Table 1.
Frequency Statistics for Demographic and Clinical Characteristics by Reported Distress from Heart Palpitations During the Menopause Transition
| Distress from palpitations | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All (n=293) | No (n=217) | Yes (n=76) | |||||||||
| n | % | n | % | M | SD | n | % | M | SD | p a | |
|
| |||||||||||
| Race/Ethnicity | 0.17 | ||||||||||
| White | 196 | 66.9 | 151 | 69.6 | 45 | 59.2 | |||||
| Black | 68 | 23.2 | 48 | 22.1 | 20 | 26.3 | |||||
| Other/Unknownb | 29 | 9.9 | 18 | 8.3 | 11 | 14.5 | |||||
| Married /partnered | 198 | 67.6 | 148 | 68.2 | 50 | 65.8 | 0.70 | ||||
| Employed full-time | 178 | 60.8 | 135 | 62.2 | 43 | 56.6 | 0.39 | ||||
| Smoking | 0.52 | ||||||||||
| Never | 193 | 65.9 | 140 | 64.5 | 53 | 69.7 | |||||
| Past | 76 | 25.9 | 60 | 27.6 | 16 | 21.1 | |||||
| Current | 24 | 8.2 | 17 | 7.8 | 7 | 9.2 | |||||
| Menopause Status | 0.40 | ||||||||||
| Postmenopausal | 245 | 83.6 | 181 | 83.4 | 64 | 84.2 | |||||
| Late transition | 43 | 14.7 | 31 | 14.3 | 12 | 15.8 | |||||
| Early transition | 5 | 1.7 | 5 | 2.3 | 0 | 0.0 | |||||
| BMI (kg/m2) | 0.95 | ||||||||||
| <25 | 107 | 36.5 | 82 | 37.8 | 25 | 32.9 | |||||
| 25 – <30 | 112 | 38.2 | 80 | 36.9 | 32 | 42.1 | |||||
| ≥30 | 74 | 25.3 | 55 | 25.3 | 19 | 25.0 | |||||
| Medicationsc | 73 | 24.9 | 46 | 21.2 | 27 | 35.5 | 0.01 | ||||
| Age at screening (years) | 54.6 | (3.6) | 54.8 | (3.7) | 54.1 | (3.4) | 0.16 | ||||
| Systolic BP (mm Hg) | 117.2 | (13.6) | 116.6 | (13.4) | 118.8 | (14.1) | 0.23 | ||||
| Diastolic BP (mm Hg) | 72.6 | (9.2) | 72.4 | (9.0) | 73.0 | (9.7) | 0.65 | ||||
| VMS frequency | 7.6 | (3.9) | 7.3 | (3.7) | 8.4 | (4.5) | 0.04 | ||||
| PSS Stress | 13.8 | (7.0) | 12.6 | (6.9) | 17.1 | (6.2) | <0.001 | ||||
| PHQ-8 Depression | 4.0 | (3.7) | 3.5 | (3.4) | 4.0 | (4.0) | <0.001 | ||||
| ISI Insomnia | 11.6 | (5.3) | 10.9 | (5.0) | 13.8 | (5.5) | <0.001 | ||||
p-value comparing participants without distress to those endorsing a little bit, moderately, quite a bit, or extremely distressed from racing or pounding heart in the past two weeks based on Chi-square tests for categorical variables and t-tests for continuous variables.
Other/unknown race/ethnicity in the total sample (n=29) includes 5 Hispanic, 5 American Indian, 12 Asian/Pacific Islander, and 7 unknown race/ethnicity participants. The small numbers of participants in each category precluded a detailed comparison of palpitations by these detailed racial/ethnic group and therefore, participants were combined into one category.
Taking at least one of the following in the past 4 weeks: selective serotonin receptor inhibitor, selective serotonin norepinephrine receptor inhibitor, monoamine oxidase inhibitor, anti-anxiety medication (unspecified), tricyclic antidepressants, St. John’s Wort, other medications for anxiety/depression/sleep, gabapentin, pregabalin, selective estrogen receptor modulators, aromatase inhibitors, glucocorticoids.
M=mean; SD=standard deviation; BMI=body mass index; BP=blood pressure; VMS=vasomotor symptoms; PSS=Perceived Stress Scale; PHQ=Patient Health Questionnaire; ISI=Insomnia Severity Index.