Epidemiological study of health profile and quality of life of postmenopausal women in the urban field practice area of a teaching medical institute in a metropolitan city

ABSTRACT Menopause is one of the most significant phases in the life of a woman which brings about various physiological changes called postmenopausal syndrome. A health programme catering to the needs of postmenopausal women is lacking in our health system. A cross-sectional study was conducted in an urban health and training centre. Sample size of 171 was taken by simple random sampling. Women of age more than or equal to 45 and having 12 months of amenorrhea were enrolled in the study after obtaining their consent. The mean age of menopause was found to be 45.31 years. In the vasomotor domain, the most common postmenopausal symptom was hot flushes (47.95%) followed by sweating (25.73%) while in the psychological domain it was seen that the most common symptom was feeling depressed down or blue (37.43%) followed by being dissatisfied with personal life, feeling anxious or nervous (36.26%) and being impatient with other people and feelings of wanting to be alone (34.50%). In physical domain, the most common symptom was ache in muscles and joints (92.98%) followed by low backache (86.55%), feeling tired or worn out (84.80%), decrease in physical strength (83.63%) and aches in the back of neck or head (81.87%). The other domain was the sexual domain in which the most common symptom was a change in sexual desire (93.57%) followed by avoiding intimacy (92.98%). It was found that the domain, most severely affecting quality of life was sexual followed by physical and psychological domain. Awareness should be created regarding the psychosocial, physical, nutritional and sexual needs of postmenopausal women.