Climacteric symptoms more severe in 2010 than in 2000 - experience of Finnish women aged 52-56 years not now or previously on menopausal hormone therapy.

Objectives: To analyze and compare the experience of climacteric symptoms and their associations with sociodemographic and health-related characteristics in two cohorts of Finnish women aged 52-56 years, born ten years apart and not now or previously on menopausal hormone therapy (MHT).

Study Design: Nationwide population-based time-trend study with a large number of participants (n = 1986 + 1988).

Main Outcome Measures: The experience of climacteric symptoms was assessed by 12 commonly used menopause-related symptoms.

Psychological behavior patterns and coping with menopausal symptoms among users and non-users of hormone replacement therapy in Finnish cohorts of women aged 52-56 years.

Objective: To identify subgroups of women who differ with respect to self-evaluated stress, hostility, optimism and sense of coherence, and to identify differences, if any, in whether these subgroups use or do not use hormone replacement therapy (HT).

Study Design And Methods: This time-trend study is based on the Finnish national HeSSup study, in which nationwide cohorts of Finnish women aged 52-56 years randomly selected in 2000 (n = 1321) and in 2010 (n = 1389) responded to postal questionnaires related to four psychological behavior patterns.

Main Outcome Measures: Relationships between psychological behavior patterns (stress, hostility, optimism and sense of coherence) and how menopausal symptoms are experienced and how this relates to the use of HT.

Change in the frequency of HRT use from 2000 to 2005 and reasons to discontinue: follow-up of a normal cohort in Finland.

Objective: To examine frequencies of the use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in a follow-up cohort of women aged 57-61 years in 2005 and to discover reasons why the women who used HRT in 2000 discontinued it.

Design: Questionnaire survey.

Setting: Five-year cross-sectional follow-up study.

Treatment of climacteric symptoms in Finland prior to the controversial reports on hormone therapy.

Objective: To examine the use of hormone therapy (HT) or alternative treatments for climacteric symptoms among women aged 52-56 years in 2000.

Design: Questionnaire study.

Setting: Cross-sectional Finnish female cohort in the year 2000.