Determinants of Menopausal Symptoms and Attitude Towards Menopause Among Midlife Women: A Cross-Sectional Study in South India.

Abstract

IntroductionMenopause is the point at which a woman's menstrual periods come to a stop. When a woman goes 12 months without having her period, menopause is diagnosed. Menopause is one stage of midlife that a woman could find simple or challenging to get through. We conducted this study to assess the attitude of women aged over 40 concerning menopause and the determinants of menopausal symptoms.MethodologyThe community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in the villages of Madurai, Tamil Nadu, for six months. We selected four villages and 100 samples using the multistage sampling procedure. Each hamlet had 25 households registered, and we collected the data using the face-to-face interview method. The study included all female participants between the ages of 40 and 60. Those women who had unnatural menopause and women who were on anti-depressant medication and hormone replacement therapy for the past six months were excluded.ResultsThe study’s participants had an average age of 52.3 years, and 74% of them had experienced menopause. The menopausal rating scale revealed that around 81.1% of women had somatic symptoms, 70.3% had psychological problems, and 45.9% had urogenital symptoms. People who lived in urban areas, had class 1 socioeconomic status, and had sedentary work showed statistically significant associations with somatic symptoms. Those who lived in urban areas, were professionals by occupation, and did sedentary work showed statistically significant associations with psychological symptoms. The respondents who lived in urban areas had a statistically significant association with urogenital symptoms. We observed a statistically significant correlation between young age and psychological problems. There was a statistically significant correlation between symptoms in all three domains and increased weight.ConclusionMiddle-aged women have relatively little understanding of menopause. Somatic symptoms are more common in middle-aged women than psychological or urogenital symptoms. Menopausal symptoms are present in almost half of the respondents.