ABSTRACT
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.
