Menopausal symptoms of postmenopausal women in a rural community of Delhi, India: A cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: There is very little data on the consequence of menopause on women in South East Asia region, especially from rural India. Importance is always given to reproductive health from menarche to menopause. Menopausal health demands priority in Indian scenario due to rising population of postmenopausal women. OBJECTIVES: The aim was to determine the mean age at attaining menopause and the prevalence of various self-reported menopausal symptoms complained by postmenopausal women (40-54 years). Furthermore, to determine the prevalence of anxiety and depression among postmenopausal women. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in a rural area of New Delhi among 252 postmenopausal women from October 2011 to March 2013. A pretested, self-designed, semi structured, interview based, oral questionnaire was used. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences software Version 21.0 (SPSS) was used for analyses. RESULTS: The mean age at attaining menopause was 46.24 (Standard Deviation = 3.38) years. Only 4 (1.6%) postmenopausal women had premature menopause. A total of 225 (89.3%) postmenopausal women experienced at least one or more menopausal symptom(s). The most common complaints of postmenopausal women were sleep disturbances (62.7%), muscle or joint pain (59.1%), hot flushes (46.4%) and night sweats (45.6%). A total of 32.1% (n=81) postmenopausal women suffered from depression and 21.0% (n=53) postmenopausal women suffered from anxiety. CONCLUSION: It is necessary to critically introspect health needs of postmenopausal women and specific components can be incorporated in the national health programs.