Menopausal symptoms and the metabolic syndrome in Nigerian women with type 2 diabetes mellitus

OBJECTIVE: To determine the frequency of occurrence of the metabolic syndrome and the age of onset and pattern of menopausal symptomatology in Nigerian women with type 2 diabetes mellitus. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study in which 201 menopausal women with type 2 diabetes mellitus aged between 40 and 85 years were studied. Their anthropometric indices, fasting lipid values, glucose parameters, uric acid and HbA(1c) were documented. The presence of the metabolic syndrome and menopausal symptoms were determined using the National Cholesterol Panel-ATP definition and MENQOL questionnaire, respectively. The test statistics used included the t test, χ(2) and correlation coefficient. RESULTS: The mean age (standard deviation) of the onset, median age and age range of menopause were 50.3 (4.8) years, 50 years and 40-57 years, respectively. The frequency of occurrence of menopausal symptoms ranged from 14% to 76%. Hot flushes, night sweats and dry skin are some of the vasomotor symptoms which occurred in 38%, 31% and 30%, respectively, of the subjects. The prevalence of the metabolic syndrome was 69%, with the pattern of occurrence of the menopausal symptoms being comparable in subjects with and without the metabolic syndrome. The frequency of occurrence of hyperuricemia in the study population was 42%. In the partial correlation analysis, serum uric acid concentration was significantly positively correlated with body mass index (r = 0.15, p = 0.02) and significantly negatively correlated with high density lipoprotein cholesterol (r = -0.1, p = 0.03). CONCLUSION: The age of onset of menopause in Nigerian women with type 2 diabetes mellitus is comparable to the age that is commonly reported and the metabolic syndrome is highly prevalent in this group of women.