AN AUDIT OF MENOPAUSAL SYMPTOMS AND ITS MANAGEMENT IN A TERTIARY CARE CENTRE OF CENTRAL INDIA – A PROSPECTIVE STUDY

Abstract

Background : Menopause marks a major physical and psychological change in every woman's life with a spectrum of symptoms that affect her daily routine. However, these menopausal symptoms present as an iceberg phenomena in the clinical setting. In order to overcome this, the MENQOL questionnaire has been developed as a validated research tool to measure the various symptoms of menopause and to assess post treatment improvement felt by patient .[1] Objectives: Ÿ To observe the distribution of menopausal symptoms with the help of a validated questionnaire Ÿ Assessment of improvement in symptoms after 4 weeks of management. Methodology: A Prospective observational study was conducted in a tertiary care centre of central India, over a period of 6 months from January 2019 to June 2019. All menopausal women who presented to the gynaecological OPD were subjected to Standard and validated MENQOL questionaire and were asked for rating of menopausal symptoms and assessment in improvement of symptoms done with the same questionare after 4 weeks therapy. Women with severe osteoporosis, severe mood disorders or depression and MENQOL Rating score <3 were excluded from the study. Results: Total 256 menopausal women presented to the outpatient department over the periods of 6 months, Among them 238 women were included in the study who were fullling the inclusion criteria .The results concluded that the mean age of our study population was 47±3years ,with maximum women falling in the category of 44 -52years. Majority of women (72%) experienced vasomotor symptoms followed by sleep disturbances (55%) ,genitourinary symptoms (44%),low energy (32%), sexual dysfunction (26%), mood disorders (21%), and body image changes (18%). Most of the women had an overlapping of these symptoms. Treatment was mainly symptom oriented & signicant improvement was seen in vasomotor symptoms (P=0.00059) ,sexual dysfunctions (P = 0.0077), low energy (P=0.0042), genitourinary symptoms (P=0.003234), and in sleep disturbances (P=0.049) . Conclusion: MENQOL can be used as a simple diagnostic tool in clinical journey of menopause for detection of symptoms and evaluation of treatment success , but further research is needed before recommending the routine use of MENQOL in clinical settings.