Gastrointestinal symptoms in four major racial/ethnic groups of midlife women: race/ethnicity and menopausal status

Cluster Analysis on Gastrointestinal Symptoms during Menopausal Transition

The purpose of this secondary analysis was to determine the clusters of midlife women by gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms and to explore differences in the clusters by race/ethnicity. This analysis used the data from two internet-based studies among 1,054 midlife women. The analysis was conducted with the data on background characteristics, health and menopausal status, and GI symptoms (collected using the GI Symptom Index for Midlife Women). The data were analyzed using factor analyses, hierarchical cluster analyses, chi-square tests, multinomial logistic regression analyses, and analyses of covariance. Three clusters were adopted: Cluster 1 (with low total numbers and severity scores of symptoms; 46.0%), Cluster 2 (with moderate total numbers and severity scores of symptoms; 44.0%), and Cluster 3 (with high total numbers and severity scores of symptoms; 10.0%). Only in Cluster 2, there were significant racial/ethnic differences in individual GI symptoms. These results provide directions for future GI symptom management among midlife women.