Social and Cultural Factors Affecting Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) Use during Menopause in Sydney and Bologna

Table 2

Comparison of symptom prevalence (for whole samples) and perceived severity (for CAM users).

Symptom	Prevalence			Severity*
	Sydney (𝑁=1296)	Bologna (𝑁=1106)	𝑃-value	Sydney (𝑁=697)	Bologna (𝑁=370)	𝑃-value
	%	%		Mean (SD)	Mean (SD)
Hot flush	49.4	51.0	0.453	2.5 (2.2)	2.7 (2.2)	0.260
Night sweats	47.6	45.0	0.211	2.4 (2.1)	2.4 (2.2)	0.771
Heart beats strong/quick	39.8	45.1	0.012	1.7 (1.9)	2.0 (1.8)	<0.01
Tense	64.6	64.0	0.759	2.8 (1.9)	2.8 (2.0)	0.725
Sleeping difficulties	65.5	55.7	<0.001	3.0 (2.1)	2.8 (2.1)	0.112
Panic attacks	29.1	21.4	<0.001	1.4 (1.9)	0.9 (1.5)	<0.001
Mood	53.9	54.6	0.739	2.4 (2.0)	2.4 (1.9)	0.931
Dizziness	32.0	37.6	0.006	1.4 (1.8)	1.5 (1.8)	0.331
Headache	49.4	36.4	<0.001	2.1 (1.9)	1.5 (1.8)	<0.001
Muscular pain	63.3	66.3	0.134	2.7 (2.0)	2.9 (2.1)	0.173
Crawling under the skin	23.0	40.9	<0.001	1.2 (1.8)	1.8 (2.0)	<0.001
Breathing difficulties	21.4	20.6	0.658	1.0 (1.6)	0.9 (1.6)	0.398
Menstrual irregularities	20.0	14.8	0.011	0.9 (1.7)	0.7 (1.6)	0.071
Bladder infections	11.0	10.8	0.902	0.5 (1.2)	0.5 (1.2)	0.317
Vaginal dryness	35.2	44.2	<0.001	1.7 (2.0)	2.1 (2.2)	<0.01

∗Symptom severities were recorded on a scale from 0 (not bothered at all) to 6 (extremely bothered).