How to evaluate quality of life in overweight and obese women during climacterium?

Abstract

Objective: identifying the instruments used to measure quality of life during menopausal transition and post-menopause in women with obesity or overweight. Methods: a systematic search using the Embase, Pubmed and Cochrane databases, and the following key-words: menopause/climacteric, quality of life, overweight/obesity. Nineteen papers that fulfilled the including criteria were found. Results: eighteen studies using generic health questionnaires (global quality of life) were identified, six of them were specific for menopause and one specific for obesity. Eleven studies used generic questionnaires, while only eight questionnaires were specific for menopause. Conclusion: there was no consensus in the literature about the use of quality of life questionnaires in women with overweight and obesity in climacterium, which makes de comparison and reproducibility of the results difficult. This is an alert about the need for standardization to better evaluate this specific population.