Study design and participants
The data reported are from the cross-sectional, observational study,
Estrogenic Regulation of Muscle Apoptosis (ERMA) (data set:
https://doi.org/10.17011/jyx/dataset/83491). The study data
collection has been described in detail in Kovanen et
al.10 Briefly, out of the 6 878 randomly selected
women aged 47 to 55 years living in Central Finland, 3 064 women
returned written consent and prequestionnaire that included questions on
symptoms of pelvic floor disorders. Exclusion criteria included
conditions or use of medications affecting ovarian function,
self-reported body mass index [BMI] > 35
kg/m2, and medications or symptomatic diseases
affecting muscle functions. From the eligible participants, 1 393 gave
fasting blood samples and 1 102 of them answered to the main
questionnaire survey that included eating behaviour questions. Four
questionnaires were lost due to technical errors. Therefore, the final
sample size of the present study is 1 098. The study was conducted
according to the Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by the Ethics
Committee of the Central Finland Health Care District (KSSHP Dnro
8U/2014) before the onset of data collection.