Prevalence of menopausal symptoms and awareness about menopause amid women aged 40 to 60 years in Hosur

Abstract

Background: Menopause, a usual physiological activity of the permanent ceasing of menstruation for 12or more months due to the drop in the reproductive hormones. Menopausal stage is associated with lots of physicaland psychological changes due to which most women experience symptoms like hot flashes, sleep problems,mood changes and depression. Objectives: The existing study was taken up to investigate the prevalence ofmenopause related symptoms of women belonging to 40 and 60 years of age and to understand their level ofawareness about menopause. Method: A community study was conducted between the women of 40 to 60 yearsof age. In this cross-sectional study, the data was collected using google forms with questions related to awarenessof menopause and commonly experienced menopausal and psychological symptoms. Data was collected from atotal of forty participants residing in Hosur city. Results: The result shows that the greater number of theparticipants were housewives (65%) and were living in urban regions. Most of the participants (90%) were awarethat menopause is a natural part of aging and fifty seven percent of the participants said yes, for menopauseincreasing the risk of cardiovascular diseases and bone related problems (85%) and about seventy percent of theparticipants were not aware of hormone therapy. The most experienced physiological symptoms were tiredness(85%), backache (57.5%), Joint pain (52.5%), weight gain (32.5%), hot flash (25%). Sleep problems (67.5%),forgetfulness (55%), depressed mood (52.5%), anxiety (45%) and irritability (40%) were commonly experiencedpsychological symptoms. Conclusion: Women of this age group (40 to 60 years) should be made aware ofmenopause, its related health issues and also the ways to tackle those issues. Awareness through nutritioneducation in this can go a long way in the betterment of health and in improving the overall quality of life.