Diagnosis and evaluation of climacteric symptoms. the "Menopause Rating Scale" MRS helps in diagnosis and evaluation of therapeutic effectiveness
Hauser, G.A.
Fortschritte der Medizin 114(5): 49-52
1996
ISSN/ISBN: 0015-8178 PMID: 8867476 Document Number: 468469
For the evaluation of climacteric symptoms, Kupperman and his collaborators worked out guidelines as long ago as 1953. As time passed, however, their validity was increasingly called into question. In the nineteen-seventies, on the basis of large epidemiological studies, the conclusion was drawn that merely the symptoms hot flushes and vaginal atrophy were specific to the menopause, while other, largely psychological, complaints represented a "domino effect", so to speak. In contrast to this, the scale (Menopause Rating Scale [MRS]) presented here also permits the identification of emotional complaints. In addition, urinary tract problems, joint and muscle pain, and sexual disorders are also rated. For each of the ten symptom groups, a graphical rating scale ranging from 0.0 (no symptoms) to 1.0 (severe symptoms) is available that permits a synoptic individual complaints profile of the patient to be established.