Data collection
bleeding, Anxiety, anxiety, depressive symptoms, depression, Depression, hypertension, disability, perimenopausal irregularities
BLEEDING, DISORDERS, DISORDERS, SECONDARY, SYNDROME, HYPERTENSION, HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE, MRS
All participants filled a first assessment demographic questionnaire that included age, educational level, family status and work status. Further, visits to PHC and cause (mental and/or physical), menopause status (bleeding pattern and use of hormonal contraception), Menopause Hormone Therapy (MHT), alcohol habits using Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) and presence of hypertension were inquired about and participants were asked to fill the following self-administrated validated questionnaires at base-line and at 6 months and 12 months after the intervention.The women also filled in the following self-administrated validated questionnaires:The Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) version 1 for physical and mental health where a higher value indicates better health [The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) to examine anxiety and depressive symptoms [The self-rated exhaustion disorders (s-ED) to estimate the risk of developing clinical exhaustion syndrome with reduced work capacity and increased risk of sick leave [The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-14) registered general perceived stress, and higher scores indicate a higher level of symptoms [The Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS-S) was used for depression where a higher score indicates more severe symptoms [The Menopause Rating Scale (MRS) was used for evaluation of the prevalence and severity of aging signs and their impact on the health-related quality of life as developed by Heinemann and validated in Sweden [Work status was registered as currently working/studying, sick leave full-time, sick leave part-time, disability pension (full-time), disability pension (part-time), unemployed full-time or unemployed part-time. Cause and visit to PHC was registered for the last two months.For registration of menopausal status the criteria of the Stages of Reproductive Aging Workshop was used, comprising criteria for; premenopausal women having regular menses, and perimenopausal irregularities > 7 days from their normal cycle and postmenopausal no menses in the last 12 months [Presence of known high blood pressure was registered: never had high blood pressure, or had high blood pressure only during previous pregnancy, or think they have previously had hypertension unrelated to pregnancy, or currently have high blood pressure but is not medicated for this, or have high blood pressure and is currently taking medication for this.The effect of the interventions were followed up at 6 and 12 months after the first assessment where AUDIT, SF36, HADS, s-ED, PSS-14, MADRS-S and MRS questionnaires were repeated.The primary outcome was the effect of GE on quality of life measured by SF-36 at the 6-month follow-up. Secondary outcomes were if GE also had any effect on other aspects of health-related quality of life measured by HADS, s-ED, PSS-14, MADRS-S and MRS at 6 months. Another secondary outcome was if GE or PCS had an effect on any of these aspects of health-related quality of life at the 12-month follow-up.