[Investigation of Relationships among Health Literacy, Social Determinants of Health, Menopausal Symptoms, Lifestyle-related Diseases, and Depression in Menopausal Women].

Abstract

Objectives: The aim of this study was to clearly identify the relationships among health literacy, social determinants of health, health behaviors, menopausal symptoms, lifestyle-related diseases, and depression in healthy menopausal women.

Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted using a questionnaire among menopausal women (45 to 60 years of age) who visited a facility offering various medical checkups to receive a specific medical checkup.Logistic regression was used to analyze the association of health literacy and social determinants of health with health behaviors for 162 subjects adjusted for age. Moreover, the association of several factors (health literacy, social determinants of health, and health behaviors) with menopausal symptoms, borderline zones for lifestyle-related diseases, and depression was also analyzed in the same way.

Results: It was shown that educational history was associated with smoking habit with an age-adjusted odds ratio OR of 3.23 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.103-9.443). It was shown that health literacy was associated with smoking habit, age-adjusted OR 4.07 (95% CI: 1.337-12.388), menopausal symptoms, age-adjusted OR 2.48 (95% CI: 1.177-5.235), and depression, age-adjusted OR 6.24 (95% CI: 2.421-16.092).

Conclusion: It was found that poor health literacy was associated with smoking habit and the severity of menopausal symptoms and depression.