Physical and health profile of post-menopausal women in Assiut

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study is to identify the physical and health profile of postmenopausal women in Assiut. Menopause is a beginning of another phase of women's life. Menopausal women are more vulnerable to body changes and certain illness, including heart diseases due to shifting hormonal levels. A descriptive study was conducted; the target population was two hundred postmenopausal women, 110 from urban [Assiut city] and 90 women from rural [E1A sara].During the period from first January 2004 to the end of June 2004, Data was collected through home visits by using an interview questionnaire sheet which developed by the investigators. The results reveled that the mean age of the studied sample at menopause was 47.9 +/- 3.7.The most common symptoms were hot flushes [61%] and insomnia [51%].More than half of the women [56.5%] in obese category while 34% were in morbid obese category. Seventy percent of women had health problems, the most common were hypertension [36.5] and diabetes [20.5%]. In conclusion most of postmenopausal women were in obese category, suffering from hot flushes and insomnia with menopause and had health problems .Increase the awareness of women regarding men-opausal changes through mass media .educational programs and postmenopausal clinics is recommended