Table 1.
Descriptive characteristics of study population (N = 1713).
| Characteristic | N (%) |
|---|---|
| Mean (SD) | |
| Race/ethnicity | |
| Black | 454 (26.50) |
| White | 868 (50.67) |
| Chinese | 181 (10.57) |
| Japanese | 210 (12.26) |
| Missing | 0 |
| Education | |
| Less than high school | 49 (2.86) |
| High school degree | 246 (14.36) |
| Some college | 547 (31.93) |
| College degree | 394 (23.00) |
| Post-college | 477 (27.85) |
| Missing | 0 |
| Difficulty paying for basic necessities | |
| Very | 72 (4.20) |
| Somewhat | 347 (20.26) |
| Not at all | 1270 (75.14) |
| Missing | 24 (1.40) |
| Testing language | |
| English | 1568 (91.54) |
| Cantonese | 69 (4.03) |
| Japanese | 76 (4.44) |
| Missing | 0 |
| Depressive symptoms | |
| No | 1259 (73.50) |
| Yes | 454 (26.50) |
| Missing | 0 |
| Anxiety | |
| No | 1369 (79.92) |
| Yes | 324 (18.91) |
| Missing | 20 (1.17) |
| Trouble sleeping | |
| No | 1345 (78.52) |
| Yes | 362 (21.13) |
| Missing | 6 (0.35) |
| Alcohol use | |
| None | 807 (47.11) |
| Infrequent (<2 servings/week) | 158 (9.22) |
| Light to moderate (2–7 servings/week) | 418 (25.40) |
| Heavy (>7 servings/week) | 255 (14.89) |
| Missing | 75 (4.38) |
| Menopausal stage | |
| Premenopausal | 32 (1.87) |
| Early perimenopausal | 427 (24.93) |
| Late perimenopausal | 170 (9.92) |
| Natural postmenopausal | 870 (50.79) |
| Surgical postmenopausal | 111 (6.48) |
| Unknown due to hormone therapy use | 103 (6.01) |
| Missing | 0 |
| SF-36 bodily pain | 72.07 (21.06) |
Difficulty paying for basic necessities (not at all versus somewhat or very difficult) is a measure of financial strain. Depressive symptoms (yes/no based on the top quartile (⩾13) of scores) were assessed by the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale. 30 Anxiety symptoms were assessed via four questions regarding anxiety symptoms in the past 4 weeks, including irritability or grouchiness, feeling tense or nervous, heart pounding or racing, and feeling fearful for no reason. Response options included not at all (0), 1–5 days (1), 6–8 days (2), 9–13 days (3), and every day (4), which were then summed across the four questions; women were classified as having anxiety symptoms based on scoring in the top quintile (⩾ 4). 31 Trouble sleeping (yes/no) was defined as having trouble falling asleep one or more times per week in the past 2 weeks. Alcohol use was categorized as none, infrequent (<2 servings per week), light to moderate (2–7 servings per week), or heavy (>7 servings per week). Menopausal stage was assessed by asking about bleeding history in previous 12 months. Premenopausal indicates a menstrual period in previous 3 months with no change in regularity in previous 12 months, early perimenopausal indicates a menstrual period in previous 3 months with a change in regularity in previous 12 months, late perimenopausal indicates a menstrual period more than 3 months but less than 12 months ago, natural menopause indicates no menstrual period within past 12 months, and surgical menopause indicates those who had a bilateral oophorectomy with or without hysterectomy. Pain was assessed based on the SF-36 scale of bodily pain, which combines responses to two questions about how much bodily pain a woman had in the past 4 weeks (none to very severe) and how much pain interfered with normal work (not at all to extremely); scores are then scaled from 1 to 100, and greater values indicate less pain.32,34