Menopausal symptoms: prevalence, severity and correlation with sociodemographic and reproductive characteristics. A cross sectional community based survey from rural Sindh Pakistan.

OBJECTIVE To determine prevalence and severity of menopausal symptoms and to investigate any correlation of sociodemographic and reproductive characteristics with menopausal symptoms in rural women. METHODS The cross-sectional study was conducted in 2007-08 in rural Sindh, Pakistan, and comprised women of age 40-70 years who were selected through multistage random sampling. Sociodemographic information was collected on a predesigned proforma. Menopause Rating Scale was used to collect information regarding the prevalence and severity of menopausal symptoms. Multivariate logistic regression was used to adjust prevalence odds ratio for demographic and reproductive characteristics. RESULTS From among a population of 525,082, the study selected 3062(0.5%) women. The prevalence of menopausal symptoms was mostly higher except bladder problems 1138(37.7%) and dryness of vagina 1008(34%). The frequency of symptoms - all mild in nature - were hot flushes 1287(42%), sleep problems 1251(40.9%), depressive mode 1169(38.2%), physical and mental exertion 1169(38.2%), and muscle and joint pain 861(28.1%). Significant association of the symptoms was found with age, education and menopausal status (p<0.05 each). CONCLUSIONS The prevalence of most of the menopausal symptoms was high except for bladder problems and dryness of vagina. Majority of the symptoms were categorised as mild.