Copyright @ 2016 The North American Menopause Society. Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited. Psychiatric disorders and menopause symptoms in Brazilian women Lidiane Barazzetti, MS, 1 Marcos Pascoal Pattussi, PhD, 1 Anderson da Silva Garcez, MS, 1 Karina Giane Mendes, PhD, 2 Heloı´sa Theodoro, MS, 2 Vera Maria Vieira Paniz, PhD, 1 and Maria Teresa Anselmo Olinto, PhD 1,3 Abstract Objective: This study investigated the association between minor psychiatric disorders and menopause symp- toms and their associated factors. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 615 women aged 40 to 65 years treated in a public menopause and gynecological outpatient clinic in the South Region of Brazil. Minor psychiatric disorders were assessed using the Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ-20) and menopause symptoms using the Menopause Rating Scale. Score for menopause symptoms was categorized into three levels of symptoms: mild, moderate, and severe. Multivariate analyses used ordinal logistic regression. Results: The prevalence of mild, moderate, and severe menopause symptoms was 34.1% (95% CI 30.3-37.9), 29.6% (95% CI 25.8-33.1), and 36.3% (95% CI 32.4-40.0), respectively. The overall prevalence of minor psychiatric disorders was 66.6% (95% CI 62.8-70.3). After adjustment, the odds ratio (OR) of the occurrence of menopause symptoms were approximately eight times higher in women relating minor psychiatric disorders compared with those without such disorders (OR ¼ 7.76; 95% CI 5.27-11.44). The following factors were also associated with the menopause symptoms: women older than 50 years, living with a partner, lower educational level, smokers, larger number of pregnancies, obese, and those using psychotropic and/or postmenopause medication. Conclusions: The minor psychiatric disorders exhibited strong association with the presence of menopause symptoms independently of sociodemographic, behavioral, and reproductive factors, and of use of psychotropic medication. Key Words: Menopause – Menopause symptoms – Minor psychiatric disorders. M enopause is the transition from reproductive to nonreproductive life characterized by important endocrine, physiological, and clinical changes in women. Several symptoms are associated with this period of life, including vasomotor complaints (hot flashes and night sweats), fatigue, muscle pain, and vaginal dryness. 1 As a function of longer life expectancy of women, the period of life that follows menopause is increasingly longer. 2,3 In this sense, the presence of menopause symptoms has been associ- ated with poorer quality of life, 4 poor self-rated health, decreased productivity at work, and substantial use of public healthcare resources. 5,6 Several studies found an association between low socioeconomic status, and increased risk of menopause symptoms. 7,8 In addition, certain behavioral traits, such as smoking, might also predispose the report of these symptoms. 9,10 Over and above changes related to aging such as decline of ovarian function and the biological changes that result from the reduction of fertility, 11 mood disorders, may also increase their occurrence during menopause. 12 These include depression, anxiety, nervous tension, melancholy, sleeplessness, lack of energy, and difficulty concentrating. In contrast, women with a history of depressive or anxious disorders tend to exhibit more physical complaints upon entering menopause. That is, previous depressive disorders might increase the intensity and number of menopause symptoms. 13-15 This relationship has been frequently inves- tigated in populations of developed countries, especially from North America and Europe. There are few studies in the literature taking into account the influence of socio- demographic and behavioral factors in this relationship, especially in Latin America. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the association between minor psychiatric disorders with menopause symptoms and their associated factors in Brazilian women. Received May 5, 2015; revised and accepted August 12, 2015. From the 1 Post-Graduate Program in Collective Health, University of Vale do Rio dos Sinos, Sa ˜o Leopoldo, Brazil; 2 University of Caxias do Sul, Caxias do Sul, Brazil; and 3 Department of Nutrition, Federal University of Health Sciences, Porto Alegre, Brazil. Funding/support: This study was supported by the Research Support Foundation of Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil (FAPERGS; 01/ 2010YARD). OLINTO MTA received research productivity fellowship from National Council of Technological and Scientific Development— CNPq, Brazilian Government (grant 307257/2013-4). Financial disclosure/conflicts of interest: None reported. Address correspondence to: Maria Teresa Anselmo Olinto, PhD, Post- Graduate Program in Collective Health, University of Vale do Rios dos Sinos, Av. Unisinos 950, Sa ˜o Leopoldo, RS, CEP 93022-000, Brazil. E-mail: mtolinto@gmail.com Menopause, Vol. 23, No. 4, 2016 433 Menopause: The Journal of The North American Menopause Society Vol. 23, No. 4, pp. 433-440 DOI: 10.1097/GME.0000000000000548 ß 2015 by The North American Menopause Society