Chinese women’s health and wellbeing in middle life: Unpacking the influence of menopause, lifestyle activities and social participation

Abstract Objectives To examine Chinese middle-aged women’s health and wellbeing and the associated biosocial correlates. Study design This study used a cross-sectional design, including selected retrospectively collected information on the final menstrual period, drawn from the 2013 wave of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). Women aged 45 to 59 were selected. Main outcome measures Factor analysis of 16 menopausal symptom ratings yielded four different and independent measures of pre-/peri-menopausal and early postmenopausal women’s health. These were: negative mood (feel frustrated, sad, lonely, worried, bored, angry, tired and stressed), positive emotions (feel enthusiastic, content and happy), musculoskeletal pain (shoulder/neck pain, knee and other joint pain, and back pain), and sleep and memory problems (trouble sleeping and poor memory). Results Menopausal status was positively associated with sleep and memory problems, whilst the number of years since the final menstrual period was positively associated with musculoskeletal pain. In contrast, lifestyle activities and social participation were linked to positive emotions. The association between selected biosocial factors and negative mood was not significant after controlling for other demographic and social background factors. Conclusions Musculoskeletal health as well as sleep and memory problems are positively associated with menopausal biological factors amongst Chinese mid-life women. Maintaining active social engagement contributes to positive wellbeing among middle-aged women.