Age at Menopause and its Determinants.

ABSTRACT

Background: Menopause marks the transition of a women’s reproductive life. The age at menopause shows variability from region to region and have been found to be affected by various biosocial factors like body size and shape, age at menarche, socioeconomic status, parity, income, educational status and dietary habits. The study aims in identifying the determinants of menopause. Methods: The study was done on 100 menopausal women, 1 to 5 years since cessation of menstruation. Various variables like age at menarche, settlement, religion, occupation, socioeconomic status, history of joint pains, parity, BMI, blood pressure (systolic and diastolic) and haemoglobin content were taken. Data was analysed using SPSS version 22, to find any association of these variables with age at menopause. Results: The present study revealed a mean age of 45.5 (± 2.3) years with a median age of 46 years at natural menopause.Women who attained early menarche has early onset of menopause and vice versa. The study revealed a significant relationship between mean age at menopause with variables like settlement (rural women having earlier onset compared to urban women, p value of 0.001), socioeconomic status (low class having an earlier onset followed by middle class and high class with a p-value of 0.003), menstrual cycle( women with regular menstrual cycle has an earlier age at menopause as compared to women with irregular menstruation) and parity (women with high parity >2 has earlier onset of menopause as compared to those having parity of ≤2). Conclusion: Age at menopause is important as the timing of menopause is an indicator of ovarian function and aging and critical for a women’s health.