Postmenopausal Symptoms and Management by Women in Delhi–NCR

Abstract

Menopause is defined as the complete cessation of the menstrual cycle in women for twelve consecutive months. Although menopause is an important aspect of the female reproductive health cycle, it is often ignored. Women may experience different menopausal and postmenopausal symptoms ranging from mild to severe. In the present study, a cross-sectional survey of 200 women in their postmenopausal years was conducted across Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR). A pretested questionnaire was given to a random population of postmenopausal women to record various postmenopausal symptoms and the coping strategies adopted by them. The mean age of menopause of the sample population was 47.48 years, and body mass index seemed to affect the age of onset of menopause. The majority of women experienced postmenopausal symptoms, with 95.28% experiencing more than one symptom, ranging from fatigue and sleep disturbances to severe symptoms such as anxiety attacks, palpitations and joint pains. Many women used different coping strategies, such as changes in lifestyle and social interaction with other women experiencing menopause. Very few women used hormone replacement therapy as a coping mechanism and most of them were ignorant about the same. Interestingly, both education and working status were observed to affect the adoption of coping strategies by women in Delhi–NCR. The results of the study emphasize the need of addressing the problems of the postmenopausal population and incorporating the same in the national healthcare programme.