Menopause Symptoms Experienced by Women in India: A Systematic Review

Abstract

It is a normal physiological change but sometimes the symptoms of menopause are severe and can hamper day to day activity and unfortunately most women are unaware of certain menopausal changes. Women experiences these symptoms in perimenopausal phase. During the transition to menopause, women may experience vasomotor, urogenital, psychosomatic, psychological as well as sexual dysfunction. There are various scales available for assess menopause symptoms. Methodology: systematic review of studies reporting symptoms experienced by menopausal women was done using Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines which included-Eligibility Criteria, Literature Search Strategy, Screening Process and Data Extraction Process. 23 articles were reviewed after complete analysis. Result: Out of these 23 studies the all study reported somatic symptoms was the highest symptoms experienced by women that was average 73.66 %. The psychosomatic symptoms was observed in 18 studies and Average 63.03% women experienced psychological symptoms. 5 studies didn’t report any psychological symptoms in women. 13 studies reported urogenital symptoms with average 51.40%, whereas 10 studies didn’t report any urogenital symptom. Conclusion: somatic symptoms is the highest symptoms experienced by women, among “Joint and Muscular pain” and “fatigue” was frequently experienced symptom followed by “Hot Flushes”. The psychosomatic symptoms are experienced on second number and urogenital symptoms was the least experienced, however those women who experienced urogenital symptoms had higher intensities of the symptoms. Keywords: Menopause, menopausal symptoms, post menopause, peri menopause, Menopause rating scale, MRS, MENQOL, GCS, HAM-A, HAM-D, Kupperman Index