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Table 1 Variability within and across measurement tools

From: Review of menopausal palpitations measures

Measure Article n (citations) Item Recall period Response options
Likerta Yes/nob
Standardized Questionnaires (n = 85)c
 Menopause Rating Scale 45c,d [31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40, 42,43,44,45,46,47,48,49,50,51,52,53,54,55,56,57,58,59,60,61,62,63,64,65,66,67,68,69,70,71,72,73,74,75,76] Heart discomfort   5  
5 [77,78,79,80,81] Heart discomfort 1 week to 1 month 5  
1 [82] Heart discomfort    √
1 [83] Heart discomfort 1 month   √
5 [84,85,86,87,88] Heart discomfort/palpitation   5  
1 [89] Heart discomfort/palpitation 1 month   √
7 [90,91,92,93,94,95,96] Heart discomfort (unusual awareness of heartbeat, heart skipping, heart racing, tightness)   5  
2 [97, 98] Heart discomfort/cardiac symptoms   5  
1 [99] Cardiac symptoms (palpitations, racing, heartbeat, irregular beats, tightness in chest)   5  
1 [100] Cardiac   5  
 Blatt-Kupperman Menopausal Index 6c [12, 44, 101,102,103,104] Palpitations   4  
1 [105] Palpitations    
1 [106] Rapid heartbeat   3  
 Kaczmarek menopause-specific questionnaire 2 [107, 108] Palpitations and butterflies    √
 Simplified Menopause Index 1 [109] Palpitation    
1 [110] Breathlessness and palpitations (I become short of breath and experience palpitations)    
 Cardiovascular Symptom Index for Midlife Women 1 [111] Palpitation   6 √
 Menopausal-specific Quality of Life 1 [112] Heart beating quickly and heart discomfort    √
 Survey adapted from menopause symptom list 1 [113] Palpitations (Heart beating quickly or strongly)   5  
 Women’s Health Questionnaire 1 [114] Tachycardia   4 √
Other Assessment Tools (n = 26)
 Unspecified self-administered questionnaire 4 [115,116,117,118] Palpitation/heart palpitations    
3 [119,120,121] Palpitation    √
1 [122] Palpitation 1 year   √
2 [123, 124] Palpitation   4  
1 [125] Palpitations 1 year 4  
1 [126] Palpitation   4  
1 [127] Irregular heart beats    √
1 [128] Tachycardia    √
 Interview 2 [129, 130] Palpitations    
1 [131] Palpitations 1 month   √
1 [7]d Palpitations 1 month   
1 [132] Palpitations    √
1 [133] Palpitations 12 months 4 & 7e √
1 [134] Palpitations 2 weeks   
1 [135] Heart pounding (or racing) 2 weeks   √
1 [136] Palpitation of heart, excitable/ anxiety    
1 [137] Rapid heartbeat    √f
 Unspecified 2 [138, 139] Palpitations   4  
  1. Blank boxes = information was not reported in articles
  2. a Likert scale column denotes number of points on scale
  3. • 7-point scale: how frequently experienced, details not specified
  4. • 6-point scale: 0 no symptom to 5 extremely severe
  5. • 5-point scale variations were 0 not present/no symptoms/absent/no complaints, 1 mild, 2 moderate, 3 severe, 4 very severe/very severe complaints; or 0.0 no symptom, 0.1–0.3 mild, 0.4–0.5 moderate, 0.6–0.7 severe, 0.8–1.0 very severe; or intensity of difficulties; • 0 none, 1 minor, 2 medium, 3 major, 4 unbearable
  6. • 4-point scale variations were: 0 to 3 severity; Absent, low, moderate, strong; or 0 no, 1 slight, 2 moderate, 3 severe; or 0 no symptom to 3 severe; mild (once in a while) to very serious (requires treatment); or 0 not at all, 1 sometimes, 2 often, 3 always; or 0 symptom did not occur, 1 mild symptom that did not interfere with usual life, 2 moderate symptom that interfered somewhat with usual activities, • 3 severe symptom that prevented routine daily activities; or Grade 1 no symptoms, 2 slight symptoms, 3 moderate symptoms, 4 severe symptoms
  7. • 3-point scale: 1 slight symptoms, limited and not bothersome; 2 moderate symptoms, distressing, required medication but did not disrupt work, could be tolerated; 3 severe symptoms, distressing, required medication, and time off work
  8. b Yes/no, presence/absence
  9. c One article used both Menopause Rating Scale and Blatt-Kupperman Menopause Index
  10. d Open-ended questions about severity
  11. e 4-point scale for distress and 7-point scale for frequency
  12. f Yes, no, and I don’t know
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Women's Midlife Health

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