Abstract 143: Menopausal symptoms and association with sarcopenia in post menopausal women

Background and Objectives: With chronological aging there is decline inestrogen concentration during and after menopausal transition with potential vasomotor, physical, psychosocial, and sexual health consequences. The loss of muscle mass, strength, and function, known as sarcopenia is common in postmenopausal women. The primary objective of the study is to assess menopausal symptoms in postmenopausal women and its association with sarcopenia. Methods: This study was conducted from October 2021 to September 2022 in Endocrinology OPD, Ramaiah Hospital, Bengaluru. A total of 65 postmenopausal women with the onset of menopause at >45 years of age were included in the study. Menopausal symptoms, and risk of sarcopenia were assessed with Menopause Rating Scale (MRS) and SARC-F questionnaires respectively. Sarcopenia was defined and assessed according to the Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia guidelines 2019. Data analysis is done with the statistical software SPSS 22.0. Results: The mean age of the participants was 58.83 ± 7.19 years and the mean age at menopause was 49.61 ± 2.73 years. Majority (75.4%) of the women had high MRS score (moderate-56.9%; severe-18.5%). Among the MRS domains, majority of women had mild somatic symptoms (35.4%), moderate psychologic symptoms (41.5%) and severe urogenital symptoms (53.8%). Urogenital symptoms were significantly high (p = 0.028) in older women. SARC-F score was low in 86.2% and high in 13.8% of women. In this study, 49.2% of women had sarcopenia, 26.2% had possible sarcopenia and 24.6% had no sarcopenia. Mean age is significantly (p = 0.022) high and mean weight and BMI were significantly low (p < 0.001) in women with sarcopenia. Mean height, weight and BMI was significantly less (p < 0.05) in women with severe sarcopenia. Among women with sarcopenia, majority had moderate somatic (43.8%) and psychologic (37.5%) and severe urogenital (62.5%) symptoms respectively. Hand grip strength was significantly low (p=<0.001) and MRS score was significantly high (p = 0.012) in women with low appendicular skeletal muscle mass index. Conclusions: Most of the women (75.4%) had moderate to severe MRS score suggestive of a poor quality of life. Majority of the women (75.4%) had sarcopenia or possible sarcopenia. Most of the women (81.3%) felt they were strong (according to SARC-F score) despite having sarcopenia. There was no significant association between menopausal symptoms (MRS score) and sarcopenia. It is essential to assess for sarcopenia in all women ideally during perimenopause and thereby advise for improvement of muscle mass and strength. The limitations of this study are its cross-sectional nature and relatively small sample size.