Menopausal symptoms and quality of life

ABSTRACT

This study was to assess the association between menopausal symptoms and the women's quality of life [QOL]. An exploratory descriptive study was conducted at Faculty of Nursing, university of Alexandria. Subjects of the study included all employees of the previously mentioned setting aged between 40 to 55 years old. Assessment sheet, Menopause Rating Scale and Quality of Life scale are the tools for data collection. Findings revealed that those who had no psychological symptoms reported better quality of life [X=94.50 +/- 1 1.475] than those who had severe psychological symptoms [X=62.64 +/- 12.549]. The same results were observed with the somatic symptoms and urogenital symptoms, as the mean score of quality of life of those who had no somatic [X88.00 +/- 11.314] or urogenital symptoms [X=83.14 +/- 12.104] was higher than who had severe somatic [X=7531 +/- 11.026] or sever urogenital symptoms [X=68.50 +/- 12.021]. In relation to the total score of menopause rating scale and the total score of quality of life, it was found that better quality of life was reported among those who had no symptoms [X=88.00 +/- 1 1.314] or mild symptoms [X=88.04 +/- 11.314]. The results also revealed that there were statistically significant differences between the total score of quality of life and the number of living children [P<0.028], medical history of the woman [P<0.041], housing condition [P<0.001], and income [P<0.001]. It can be concluded that severity of menopausal symptoms has a negative association with overall quality of life. Increased number of children, presence of health problems, not suitable housing condition, and not enough income were negatively associated with QOL. Most of the quality of life domains are adversely affected by the presence of menopausal changes. Further researches are required to assess the intervention for pen-and postmenopausal women in context of their needs and expectation