Analysis of quality of life of women in menopause period in Poland, Greece, Belarus and Belgium using MRS Scale. A multicenter study.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to compare the climacteric symptoms, the activity and quality of life of women in the menopausal period from Poland, Greece, Belarus and Belgium using a Menopause Rating Scale (MRS). MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study was conducted among women over 40 years of age, from Poland (241), Belorussia (119), Greece (100), and Belgium (79). For the purpose of this research, the Polish, Russian, Belgian and Greek versions of the MRS were used. The MRS Scoring scheme is simple, i.e. the score increases point by point with the increasing severity of subjectively perceived symptoms for each of the 11 items (severity 0-no complaints, 4 scoring points-severe). The respondent provides her perception by checking one of 5 possible boxes of "severity" for each of the items. RESULTS: Mild or no complaints were reported to a similar extent by all women from these four countries. The intensity of the psychological symptoms was similar for the studied countries and did not differ significantly (P = 0.1531). Similar results we found in the somatic symptoms among the studied groups (P = 0.1421). A significant difference in the urogenital and sexual symptoms between Belgian and Belorussian women (P<0.001) was found. The frequency of menopausal symptoms was found to be significantly (P = 0.0381) higher among Belgian women in comparison to Belorussian ones. CONCLUSIONS: We found some differences between the menopausal complaints reported by women from Belgium, Belarus, Greece and Poland. Belgian women exhibited a more impaired quality of life due to a higher rate and severity of urogenital and sexual symptoms.

Comparative analysis of quality of life women in menopause period in Poland, Greece and Belorussia using MRS Scale. Preliminary report.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was the assessment of climacteric symptoms, the activity and quality of life of women in menopausal period from Poland, Greece and Belorussia using a Menopause Rating Scale (MRS). MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study was conducted among women in age after 45 years, from Poland (55), Belorussia (50) and Greece (85). MRS was obtained from the Professor Heinemann from Center of Epidemiology and Health Studies in Berlin. The scoring scheme is simple, i.e. the score increases point by point with increasing severity of subjectively perceived symptoms in each of the 11 items (severity 0--no complaints, 4 scoring points--severe). The respondent provides her personal perception by checking one of 5 possible boxes of "severity" for each of the items. RESULTS: Mild and no complaints in similar degree were reported by all women from these three countries. We found significant (p < 0.001) differences between severe complaints reported by Greek women compared with complaints respondents from Belorussia and Poland. Moderate complaints were reported more frequently by women from Poland (32.56%) and Belorussia (34%) compared with women from Greece (28.55%). Severe complaints were noted more rarely in 1.6% Greek women compared with 2.6% Belorussian and 3% Polish respondents. No significant differences between no complainants, mild, moderate, marked and severe between women from Belorussia, Poland and Greece. CONCLUSIONS: Generally we did not observe significant differences between reported complaints by women from Belorussia, Poland and Greece.

The attitude of nurses for the enhancement of palliative care in Greece.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to estimate the attitude and knowledge of nurses for the development of palliative care in Greece. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A certain questionnaire with closed questions was developed and was use as research method to collect all the necessary data to support or question the hypotheses. Eighty one nurses participated in this study. The data collected was analysed using the SPSS software. RESULTS: Of the 81 nurses questioned 22 (27.16%) were men and 59 (72.84%) were women. The average was 37.19 +/- 9.16 years of the working Experience was 14.83 +/- 9.02 years in different units, 34.3%. Answered that the palliative care must be specialty, 43.2% specialization and 23.5% course. CONCLUSIONS: The majority of nurses believe that if they had working experience in different units this won't give them the capacity to deal with patients who suffer from advanced disease.