A community based comparative study on menopausal health issues of urban and rural women of tripura, North-east india

Abstract

Background: Menopause health issues may differ in diverse socioeconomic groups and among the urban and rural populations. Objectives:The present cross-sectional study was carried out on a small population of urban and rural menopausal women from Tripura, a Stateof North-East India, to evaluate the average age of menopause and to examine prevalence and variations in menopausal featuresbetween the rural and urban women above the age of 40 years. Methods: Data on socio-demographic variables, reproductive historyand menopausal symptoms were collected from 400 menopausal women of Tripura by questionnaire method. Observation: Variationsin menopausal symptoms among rural and urban women were observed. Muscle and joint pain were the most common symptoms inrural (86%) and urban (80%) women, and 32% of both groups reported having breast pain. Hot flushes followed it, sleep disturbancesand night sweating. Due to lack of awareness, the majority of rural women thought that menopausal symptoms are very natural andneed not require any attention until severe complications arise. Conclusion: Such regional studies thus helped to corroborate data withhealth status of menopausal women and also created awareness among middle-aged women regarding self-care for better managementof their menopausal discomforts.