Women's knowledge, attitude, and practice toward menopause and hormone replacement therapy in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Background: Hormonal changes associated with menopause have been linked to a number of medical and psychological symptoms. This study aimed to assess women›s knowledge, attitudes, and practices toward menopause and hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in Saudi Arabia. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, participants were randomly selected using a proportional cluster sampling method in 2023. The target population in this study is women aged 18 years and older in Saudi Arabia. Data were collected via an online questionnaire. Results: This study included a total of 1,083 participants. The majority of them (75.6%) were between the ages of 18 and 34. Our study revealed that more than half of the study population had good knowledge about menopause (56.0%). However, more than half of them (56.1%) had a poor level of knowledge about the benefits and risks of HRT. The mean attitude score toward HRT was 2.24 ± 0.024. Moreover, mood swings were the most commonly recognized symptom of menopause, and social media was the most commonly reported source of information. Almost half of them identified the advantages of HRT. Furthermore, women who had divorced, widowed, or were students had significantly more knowledge about menopause. On the other hand, widowed women, those who achieved higher diplomas and elementary school, were significantly associated with a good level of knowledge toward the risks and benefits of HRT. Conclusion: Our study concluded that women in Saudi Arabia had sufficient knowledge and attitude toward menopause. However, they showed inadequate knowledge about the benefits and risks of HRT.