19 Sociodemographic factors.pmd

1Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, School of Health, Shiraz, Islamic Republic of Iran (Correspondence to S.M.T. Ayatollahi: [email protected]). Received: 18/09/02; accepted: 07/10/03 ABSTRACT With increasing life expectancy, menopause is an increasingly important aspect of women’s health. We recorded the age at natural menopause among women in a population-based cross-sectional study in Shiraz, Islamic Republic of Iran, in summer 2000. Interviews with 948 randomly selected menopausal women showed the mean (standard deviation) age at menopause was 48.3 (5.3) years (95% CI: 48.0– 48.6), median 49 years. The sociodemographic and health behaviour factors that were significantly related to early mean age of menopause were: never married (44.7 years), low income level (47.4 years), low social class (45.8 years), tobacco use (47.9 years) and non-consanguineous husband (48.1 years).