Fatores associados à qualidade de vida em mulheres no climatério

A cross‐sectional study was conducted in Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais, Brazil to evaluate the factors associated with quality of life in climacteric women. It was used for this evaluation the questionnaire SF‐36 of quality of life and one interview about socioeconomic, demographic, medicines used and living habits. The average age of the 113 participant was 53.3 ± 4.4 years, 49.6% living with a partner and 77.4% using the public health system as the exclusive health insurance. It was observed that the income of 54% of them were less than or equal to the minimum wage and 69% had low education. Assessing the association between the variables of the interview and the eight domains of the SF‐36, there was significant difference in the quality of life in relation to: (i) age, in the mental health domain; (ii) living with or without a partner, related to general health and limitation by emotional aspect; (iii) the presence of any chronic disease correlated to general health and mental health; (iv) continuous‐use medication in the mental health domain. Concluding, the higher the age, in association with chronic diseases and medicines intake, the worse the quality of life of these women. Moreover, living with a partner positively modifies some areas associated with quality of life.