Constipation and diarrhea during the menopause transition and early postmenopause: observations from the Seattle Midlife Women's Health Study

Objective:
To assess the relationship of constipation and diarrhea severity during the menopause transition (MT) with age, MT stage, reproductive biomarkers, stress-related biomarkers, and stress-related perceptions.
Methods:
From 1990 to 1992, women aged 35 to 55 years were recruited from the greater Seattle area; 291 of them consented to ongoing (1990-2013) annual data collection by daily menstrual calendar, health diary, and annual health questionnaire. A subset (n = 131) provided a first morning voided urine specimen (1997-2013). These were assayed for levels of E1G, follicle-stimulating hormone, testosterone, cortisol, norepinephrine, and epinephrine. Mixed-effects modeling was used to identify how changes in constipation and diarrhea severity over time related to age, MT stage, reproductive biomarkers, stress-related biomarkers, and stress-related perceptions.
Results:
In a univariate model, age, late reproductive (LR) stage, tension, and anxiety were all significantly and positively related to constipation severity, whereas cortisol was significantly and negatively associated. In a multivariate model, only tension and cortisol remained significant predictors of constipation severity (P 

Source: Menopause - May 24, 2018 Category: OBGYN Tags: Original Articles Source Type: research