Endocrine and well-being profiles shape psychosexual health and menopausal symptoms after menopause
- 1Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
Abstract
Menopause is a major neuroendocrine transition characterised by substantial changes in endocrine milieu, physiological, psychological, and psychosexual health. Although menopausal symptoms are common, their range and severity vary considerably between individuals, suggesting that menopause is a multifaceted process. Endocrine markers (luteinising, follicle-stimulating & anti-Mullerian hormone), together with perceived well-being, may contribute to this variability. Thus, the aim was to capture the complex impact of endocrine and well-being markers on psychosexual health and menopausal symptoms. Therefore, we first applied principal component analyses to identify individual endocrine and well-being profiles, to then assess their association with psychosexual health and menopausal symptoms in pre- and post-menopausal females.
Post- compared to pre-menopausal females report reduced psychosexual health and greater urogenital and psychological menopausal symptom burden. Endocrine and well-being profiles interact with reproductive status: Post-menopausal females with lower subjective well-being and a stronger menopause-like endocrine milieu report decreased overall psychosexual health and more sexual related pain. Additionally, endocrine milieu interacted with reproductive status on urogenital symptoms: Post-menopausal females with a stronger menopause-like endocrine milieu report less urogenital symptoms.
Together, these findings suggest that endocrine factors and subjective well-being jointly influence psychosexual health and menopausal symptoms after menopause. No association is seen before menopause. Therefore, females after menopause need to be considered separatelyin research and clinic. Multivariate analyses capture patterns that are not identified using individual biomarkers and conventional univariate approaches. Our findings highlight the value of integrative multivariate approaches for improving the assessment of menopausal health and characterising individual variability across the menopausal transition.
HighlightsO_LIPsychosexual health, urogenital & psychological menopausal symptoms are reduced post menopause C_LIO_LIMenopausal females have better wellbeing, which impacts psychosexual health C_LIO_LIEndocrine milieu impacts urogenital symptoms and psychosexual health after menopause C_LIO_LIAssociation between endocrine milieu and psychosexual health differs before and after menopause C_LIO_LITo improve research in menopausal health, multivariate approaches are necessary C_LI
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BibTeX
@misc{denninger2026endocrine,
title = {{Endocrine and well-being profiles shape psychosexual health and menopausal symptoms after menopause}},
author = {A. F. Denninger and J. Sippel and S. Beck and A. Decker and A. Walther and P. Büttner and A. Starke and M. Henes and I. Sundström-Poromaa and B. Derntl and L. Kogler},
howpublished = {medRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.64898/2026.10.06.26364576},
url = {https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.06.26364576v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Endocrine and well-being profiles shape psychosexual health and menopausal symptoms after menopause
AU - A. F. Denninger
AU - J. Sippel
AU - S. Beck
AU - A. Decker
AU - A. Walther
AU - P. Büttner
AU - A. Starke
AU - M. Henes
AU - I. Sundström-Poromaa
AU - B. Derntl
AU - L. Kogler
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/06
PB - medRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.10.06.26364576
UR - https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.06.26364576v1
AB - Menopause is a major neuroendocrine transition characterised by substantial changes in endocrine milieu, physiological, psychological, and psychosexual health. Although menopausal symptoms are common, their range and severity vary considerably between individuals, suggesting that menopause is a multifaceted process. Endocrine markers (luteinising, follicle-stimulating & anti-Mullerian hormone), together with perceived well-being, may contribute to this variability. Thus, the aim was to capture the complex impact of endocrine and well-being markers on psychosexual health and menopausal symptoms. Therefore, we first applied principal component analyses to identify individual endocrine and well-being profiles, to then assess their association with psychosexual health and menopausal symptoms in pre- and post-menopausal females. Post- compared to pre-menopausal females report reduced psychosexual health and greater urogenital and psychological menopausal symptom burden. Endocrine and well-being profiles interact with reproductive status: Post-menopausal females with lower subjective well-being and a stronger menopause-like endocrine milieu report decreased overall psychosexual health and more sexual related pain. Additionally, endocrine milieu interacted with reproductive status on urogenital symptoms: Post-menopausal females with a stronger menopause-like endocrine milieu report less urogenital symptoms. Together, these findings suggest that endocrine factors and subjective well-being jointly influence psychosexual health and menopausal symptoms after menopause. No association is seen before menopause. Therefore, females after menopause need to be considered separatelyin research and clinic. Multivariate analyses capture patterns that are not identified using individual biomarkers and conventional univariate approaches. Our findings highlight the value of integrative multivariate approaches for improving the assessment of menopausal health and characterising individual variability across the menopausal transition. HighlightsO_LIPsychosexual health, urogenital & psychological menopausal symptoms are reduced post menopause C_LIO_LIMenopausal females have better wellbeing, which impacts psychosexual health C_LIO_LIEndocrine milieu impacts urogenital symptoms and psychosexual health after menopause C_LIO_LIAssociation between endocrine milieu and psychosexual health differs before and after menopause C_LIO_LITo improve research in menopausal health, multivariate approaches are necessary C_LI
ER -