A STUDY ON PREVALENCE OF MENOPAUSAL SYMPTOMS AMONG POSTMENOPAUSAL WOMEN IN URBAN FIELD PRACTICE AREA OF TERTIARY HEALTH CARE CENTRE, HYDERABAD, TELANGANA

Abstract

CONTEXT: rd The term “menopause” means permanent cessation of menstruation. Women spend 1/3 of life in this phase. Decrease in the production of estrogen leads to symptoms like hot ushes, insomnia, mood changes, as well as osteoporosis and vaginal atrophy. These changes lead to decrease in quality of life and make them more vulnerable to physical health problems and mental health disorders. Early identication and treatment of symptoms will improve their quality of life. OBJECTIVES: 1) To study the Sociodemographic factors among postmenopausal women. 2) To determine the prevalence of menopausal symptoms among the study subjects. MATERIALS & METHODS: Across-sectional community based study was conducted in urban eld practice area of tertiary health care centre among 200 Postmenopausal women with natural menopause. Women with surgical/medical menopause & on medications like antidepressants, anxiolytics were excluded. Data was collected using semi structured questionnaire and analysed using MS Excel 2007 RESULTS: Mean age at menopause is 46.11 + 4.28 years. Most frequent symptom reported by study subjects was joint pains (52%). Most common vasomotor symptom reported was hot ushes (38.5%), most common psychological symptom was sleep disturbances (42%) and most common urogenital symptom was increased urine frequency (23%). Least common symptoms reported were vaginal dryness (3%) CONCLUSIONS: Majority of postmenopausal women (172 out of 200)are suffering from one or the other menopausal symptom.