Age and symptoms at natural menopause: a cross-sectional survey of rural women in Sindh Pakistan.

BACKGROUND Age at menopause and symptoms vary among populations and societies. Scarce data is available about menopausal age, symptoms and socio-demographic and reproductive factors from rural women of Sindh, Pakistan. The present study was conducted to find out the self reported age at natural menopause, prevalence of menopausal symptoms, and to identify sociodemographic and reproductive factors that may influence the onset of menopause. METHODS A survey was carried out on women aged 40-70. A multistage random sampling technique was used to retrieve 1,355 women with natural menopause from 10 union councils of district Matiari. These women were further categorised into 3 groups, I, II, and III having menopause for 1-5, 6-10, > 10 years respectively. Pearson's chi-square test was used to analyse the percentage of symptoms distribution. ANOVA was used to analyse the relationship between demographic, reproductive factors and the age at natural menopause. RESULTS Age at menopause in our subjects was 46.2 +/- 6.4 years. The prevalence of menopausal symptoms ranges from 26 % to 83%. Frequency of somatic, psychological and urogenital symptoms was high in group II. No significant association was found between parity, socioeconomic status and age at natural menopause. CONCLUSION The results have shown the early age at menopause. The prevalence of menopausal symptoms is high. Results regarding correlation of age at menopause with socio-demographic and reproductive characteristics were different from literature.