AGE AND SYMPTOMS AT NATURAL MENOPAUSE: A CROSS-SECTIONAL SURVEY OF RURAL WOMEN IN SINDH PAKISTAN
Abstract
Background: Age at menopause and symptoms vary among populations and societies. Scarcedata is available about menopausal age, symptoms and socio-demographic and reproductivefactors from rural women of Sindh, Pakistan. The present study was conducted to find out the selfreported age at natural menopause, prevalence of menopausal symptoms, and to identify sociodemographic and reproductive factors that may influence the onset of menopause. Methods: Asurvey was carried out on women aged 40–70. A multistage random sampling technique was usedto retrieve 1,355 women with natural menopause from 10 union councils of district Matiari. Thesewomen were further categorised into 3 groups, I, II, and III having menopause for 1–5, 6–10, >10years respectively. Pearson’s chi-square test was used to analyse the percentage of symptomsdistribution. ANOVA was used to analyse the relationship between demographic, reproductivefactors and the age at natural menopause. Results: Age at menopause in our subjects was 46.2±6.4years. The prevalence of menopausal symptoms ranges from 26 % to 83%. Frequency of somatic,psychological and urogenital symptoms was high in group II. No significant association was foundbetween parity, socioeconomic status and age at natural menopause. Conclusion: The results haveshown the early age at menopause. The prevalence of menopausal symptoms is high. Resultsregarding correlation of age at menopause with socio-demographic and reproductivecharacteristics were different from literature.Keywords: Menopause, Postmenopausal Syndrome, Age, Sindh, Reproductive, Rural, WomenReferences
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