Abstract

Background: Menopause, although not a disease in itself, is associated with many frustrating physiological changes, diverse symptoms and psychological dysfunctions such as anxiety, depression, lack of concentration and decreased self- esteem to the extent of affecting the quality of life of middle aged and elderly women. Hence, to ensure quality life to these women, attention needs to be focused on menopausal problems too to mitigate/manage these problems through appropriate interventions. Objectives: To assess the magnitude of menopausal problems and associated factors among rural women.
Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among rural women aged 40-60 years resident of study area. A random sample of 400 eligible women was drawn from those. The required information was collected on a pretested, semi-structured schedule from randomly selected respondents by the investigators by house-to-house visits.
Results: Mean age of menopause was 46.2 ± 1.61 standard deviation (SD) years, median 46 years with a range from 43 to 50 years. Mean age of menarche was 11.95 ± 0.775 SD years. The most frequent menopausal symptoms were joint and muscular discomfort (77.5%), sleep problems (76.5%), hot flushes (62.0%), irritability (58.5%), and bladder problems (54.5%). Awareness about these problems was inadequate.
Conclusions: The mean age at menopause of 46.2 years is in the lower side of the global range of 45-55 years (as per WHO) and lies almost in the middle of the observed range of 43-49 years for developing countries. The magnitude of menopausal/perimenopausal problems was very high and the common problems were almost similar to as observed in other such studies but varied in frequency possibly due to difference in perception, adaptation, sociocultural environment, etc. The awareness about menopausal problems was inadequate necessitating to educate and to counsel these women to make them fully aware about menopausal phenomenon.