Table 1.
Basic demographic characteristics, medicine use and health status of women living in Sydney and Bologna.
| Variables |
Sydney (N = 1296) |
Bologna (N = 1106) |
P | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age (y), mean ± SD | 52.5 ± 5.08 | 56.0 ± 5.3 | <0.001 | ||
| Marital status, n (%) | |||||
| No partner | 379 (29.7) | 249 (22.7) | |||
| With partner | 899 (70.3) | 849 (77.3) | <0.001 | ||
| Education, n (%) | |||||
| Primary or secondary school | 673 (52.7) | 926 (83.9) | |||
| University | 603 (47.3) | 178 (16.1) | <0.001 | ||
| Occupation, n (%) | |||||
| Unemployed | 75 (5.8) | 454 (41.8) | |||
| Non professional | 560 (43.6) | 157 (14.5) | <0.001 | ||
| Professional | 648 (50.5) | 475 (43.7) | |||
| Birth place, n (%) | |||||
| Study country | 939 (73.3) | 1074 (98.0) | |||
| Other country | 342 (26.7) | 22 (2.0) | <0.001 | ||
| Last menses, n (%) | |||||
| >12 months | 779 (60.7) | 670 (64.2) | |||
| 2–11 months | 182 (14.2) | 140 (13.4) | <0.05 | ||
| Last month | 306 (23.9) | 192 (18.4) | |||
| Surgical menopause | 16 (1.2) | 42 (4.0) | |||
| Use of CAM for menopausal symptoms, n (%) | 697 (53.8) | 370 (33.5) | <0.001 | ||
| Type of CAM treatment, n (%) | |||||
| Products | 631 (48.7) | 247 (23.6) | <0.001 | ||
| Practitioners | 263 (20.3) | 255 (23.5) | 0.059 | ||
| Use of CAM for other conditions, n (%) | |||||
| No | 958 (74.7) | 856 (84.2) | |||
| Yes | 325 (25.3) | 161 (15.8) | <0.001 | ||
| Use of HT, n (%) | |||||
| No | 872 (67.4) | 933 (85.4) | |||
| Yes | 421 (32.6) | 160 (14.6) | <0.001 | ||
| Use of other drugs, n (%) | |||||
| No | 518 (40.1) | 481 (44.2) | |||
| Yes | 774 (59.9) | 608 (55.8) | 0.046 | ||
| No treatment for menopausal symptoms, n (%) | 456 (35.2) | 622 (56.2) | <0.001 | ||
| Current health status, n (%) | |||||
| Poor (1–3) | 26 (2.0) | 104 (9.5) | |||
| Good (4-5) | 695 (53.8) | 587 (53.5) | <0.001 | ||
| Excellent (6-7) | 573 (44.2) | 406 (37.0) | |||
| Health status compared with 1 y ago, n (%) | |||||
| Worse (1–3) | 72 (5.6) | 188 (17.3) | |||
| Same (4-5) | 791 (61.3) | 574 (52.7) | <0.001 | ||
| Better (6-7) | 428 (33.2) | 328 (30.1) | |||
HT: hormone therapy; CAM: complementary and alternative medicine. Current health status ranked on a scale from 1 (poor) to 7 (excellent); health status compared with 1 year ago ranked on a scale from 1 (worse) to 7 (better).