| Objectives The objectives of this study are to investigate the prevalence of fatigue, to explore the relationship between menstrual history, reproductive history, gynecological diseases and fatigue, and to identify risk factors for fatigue in middle-aged and elderly women.Methods Based on health surveys among community residents in Foshan, Guangdong, China, according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 1,272 women aged 45 years or older dwelling in the community were selected from 6,559 respondents. The Chinese version of Chalder Fatigue Scale(CFS) was used to assess fatigue within nearly one month, and the socio-demographic(data of birth, ethnic, marital status, education, living arrangement, et al), health-related behaviors(smoking, drinking, exercise, et al) and obesity, health-related variables(history of hypertension, diabetes mellitus and other chronic diseases), history of sickness injury within two weeks and hospitalization in the last year, and gynecological data(menstrual history, reproductive history and gynecological diseases, et al), physical examination form(height, weight, waist circumference, blood pressure, random blood sugar) were extracted from the survey questionnaire. Fatigue was defined as a total CFS-11 score ≥ 4. Data was inputted by Epi Data 3.1 to establish the database and SPSS 17.0 was applied to conducted the statistical analysis. Means and standard deviations(SD) were presented for continuous variables, while frequency and percentage were used for categorical variables. The differences of variables within groups were compared through the t-test, ANOVA, chi-square test and Nonparametric test. Then univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses using the forward selection procedure were performed to analyze the influential factors of fatigue in middle-aged and elderly women. Two-tailed analyses were conducted with the level of significance set at P< 0.05.Results 1. The average age of 1272 women was 59.25±10.74 years with 738 aged 45~59.9(58.0%), 390 aged 60~74.9(30.7%) and 144 aged 75 or above(11.3%). Of these women, 1266(99.5%) were Han ethnic group. 1043(82.0%) women were married and 229(18.0%) were unmarried including never married, divorced and widowed. There were 848(66.7%) women educated by primary school or below, 340(26.7%) by junior middle school, 84(6.6%) by high school/secondary school or above. Of these women, 497(39.1%) were on the job, 337(26.5%) retired and 438(34.4%) unemployed. There were 76(6.0%) living alone, 103(8.1%) only living with their couple and 1093(85.9%) living with their children. There were 1140(89.6%) women having medical insurance and 840(66.0%) having a health record in the community health care institution. 2. There were 431 middle-aged and elderly women experiencing fatigue(CFS-11≥4). The prevalence of fatigue in middle-aged and elderly women was 33.9%, which was higher than their male opposites. 3. The results of univariate analysis showed that age, marital status, education, occupation, living arrangement, BMI, central obesity, health examination, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, chronic diseases, history of injury within two weeks and hospitalization in the last year, number of live births, menopause and gynecological examination were the influential factors of fatigue for middle-aged and elderly women(P<0.05). 4. The age of menarche was correlated with the number of chronic disease; the number of live births was correlated with central obesity, hypertension, systolic pressure, diabetes mellitus, random plasma glucose, the number of chronic diseases, history of injury within two weeks and hospitalization in the last year; menopausal significantly was correlated with BMI, central obesity, hypertension, systolic pressure,diabetes mellitus, random plasma glucose, the number of chronic diseases, history of injury within two weeks and hospitalization in the last year(P<0.05). 5. The results of the multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that age, marital status, occupation, central obesity, the number of chronic diseases, history of hospitalization in the last year, the number of live births and menopausal independently predicted fatigue in middle-aged and elderly female(P<0.05).Conclusion 1. Compared with the middle-aged and elderly men, the prevalence of fatigue in middle-aged and elderly women was a little higher. 2. Elderly, unmarried, unemployed, central obesity, chronic disease, hospitalization within a year history, more than 2 live births and post-menopause were the risk factors for fatigue in middle-aged and elderly female. 3. Gynecological-related information, such as number of live births and menopause may be the important factors causing diversity between genders in prevalence of fatigue. |
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