Perceptions of menopause among rural women of Lahore

ABSTRACT

The present study was undertaken to document the perceptions of Pakistani women regarding menopause. Design: Cross-sectional descriptive study. Place and Duration of Study. The study was conducted in the suburb of Lahore from 1st July 2000 to 31st August 2000. Subjects and The data were collected from a rural population of 28,419 individuals living in 20 villages outside Lahore. A systematic random sample of 130 women was drawn from those 1337 women, who had reached natural menopause. In-depth interviews were conducted in local dialect. The age of the population ranged from 42 to 80 years with a mean of 59.8'7.4 years. The mean age at menopause was 49.0'3.6 years. Majority of the women [82.3%] considered menopause as a positive change. According to 71.6% women, their relationship with the family had either improved or there was no change. There was an increase in libido among 70.5% women, decrease in libido among 5.7% and no change among 23.8% women. However, 16.9% women reported dyspareunia. Seven% of the women suffered a fracture after menopause. None of the study subjects reported postmenopausal bleeding. Three women [2.3%] had cardiac ailments. The proportion of women showing a positive attitude towards menopause was significantly higher [p<0.005] among our study subjects as compared to those from India, Thailand, USA and Australia. The majority of study subjects did not consider menopause as a negative milestone, loss of time, a partial death or a disease as seen in many western populations. On the contrary menopause is regarded as a natural phase in a woman's reproductive life