Analysis of health status of post-menopausal women v1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Analysis of UKCTOCS psychosocial and health data to investigate health status of post-menopausal women depending on whether or not they had children
IRAS ID
268388
Contact name
Konstantin Blyuss
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Sussex
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 6 months, days
Research summary
A recent publication (‘More than 1m childless people over 65 are ‘dangerously unsupported’ by Amelia Hill, The Guardian, 28 March 2019) based on an earlier report, ‘Ageing without children – it’s an equalities issues’ by Kirsty Woodard (27 March 2019) has raised an idea that childless people over the age of 65 are putting a huge pressure on NHS due to their poorer health. A closer inspection of that report indicates that its conclusions are based on some quite old, and small sample sized studies in other settings and other countries, with no actual comprehensive UK data being used.
This project will fill this significant knowledge gap by exploring in detail the health status of post-menopausal women depending on whether or not they have ever had children using data from questionnaires, which have already been obtained as part of UKCTOCS. Various health characteristics, including general health (GHQ-12), psycho-social features (STAI), lifestyle choices (drinking and smoking), BMI, will be compared for women who have and have not carried a full-term pregnancy. Education level and income, as determined by the deprivation index associated with postcode, will also be included in the analysis. GHQ-12 (a 12-question General Health Questionnaire) is a powerful psychometric tool used for identifying common psychiatric disorders in non-psychiatric clinical settings by asking for changes in the respondents' current state compared to their usual state. STAI (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory) measures the degree of trait and state anxiety in respondents, and helps to not only diagnose anxiety, but also distinguish it from depressive syndromes.
REC name
HSC REC A
REC reference
19/NI/0180
Date of REC Opinion
10 Sep 2019
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion