COVID-19 phobia, personality traits and menopausal symptoms in women in the climacteric period

Introduction
Menopausal symptoms in women are influenced by personality traits as well as physical and psychological characteristics. The effects of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) phobia on personality traits and menopausal symptoms in premenopausal and postmenopausal women were examined in this study.

Material and methods
The study was conducted in a cross-sectional and descriptive design with 410 women. The data were collected using a descriptive data form, the COVID-19 phobia scale, the menopause rating scale, and the Cervantes personality scale.

Results
In this study, 46.8% of the women were premenopausal and 53.2% were postmenopausal. The mean age was 42.9 ±1.97 years in premenopausal women and 50.9 ±2.94 years in postmenopausal women. The psychological, social, and total COVID-19 phobia scores were found to be higher in postmenopausal women than premenopausal women. Postmenopausal women showed more introverted personality traits than premenopausal women. COVID-19 phobia affected postmenopausal women more than premenopausal women in terms of psychological, social and all menopausal symptoms. As COVID-19 phobia increased, neurotic personality traits increased in premenopausal women, and introverted and neurotic personality traits increased in postmenopausal women (p < 0.05). Menopausal symptoms increased with neurotic personality traits in premenopausal women and with introverted personality traits in postmenopausal women (p < 0.001).

Conclusions
COVID-19 phobia affected both groups in terms of menopausal symptoms and personality traits. For the management of menopausal symptoms, it is recommended to consider neurotic personality traits in premenopausal women and introverted personality traits in postmenopausal women.