[Survey of climacteric symptoms in semi-rural areas of Yucatan]. / Encuesta de síntomas del climaterio en áreas semirurales de Yucatán.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the symptoms of climacterium in women from rural areas of Yucatan. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We conducted a transversal study of 202 women in the villages of Seye and Cuzama. A questionnaire on socioeconomic status, and symptoms of the menopause was applied. RESULTS: In both villages, the commonest menopause-related symptoms were backache tiredness in more than half of the women. Sweating and hot flashes were reported by 35% and 31%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Our observations differed from the absence of hot flashes and sweating reported by another group in rural women living in Yucatan (Ref 7).

La amenorrea de la lactancia como método de planificación familiar / Lactational amenorrhea method of family planning

El efecto anticonceptivo de la lactancia juega un papel importante en el espaciamiento de los embarazos y, en consecuencia, es importante que se conozca en los países que están en vías de desarrollo; sin embargo, hasta hace poco no había sido sometido a prueba como método de planificación familiar. No fue sino hasta 1988 cuando un grupo de investigadores se reunió en Bellagio para establecer un consenso, el cual afirma que la lactancia natural permite espaciar los nacimientos al máximo cuando la madre amamanta al niño por completo o casi por completo y se mantiene amenorreica, sin que tenga que preocuparse porcualquier hemorragia menstrual ocurrida antes del día del puerperio. Cuando se cumple con esas condiciones, la lactancia natural confiere más de 98 por ciento de protección contra el embarazo en los primeros seis meses de postparto. Estos lineamientos constituyen la base del Método de la Lactancia y de la Amenorrea (MELA), el cual es un método introductorio de planificación familiar que, al mismo tiempo que promueve el espaciamiento de los embarazos, implica beneficios naturales para el niño, referidos a una nutrición óptima y a la prevención de enfermedades infecciosas. Se basa en la infecundidad natural de las mujeres que amamantan, causada por lasupresión hormonal de la ovulación

The contraceptive effects of breast-feeding still play an important role in child spacing in developing countries; however, its use as a method of family planning was untested until 1988, when an international group of researchers met in Bellagio and reached a consensus statement that reads "The maximum birth spacing effect of breast-feeding is achieved when mothers fully or nearly fully breast-feed and remain amenorrheic (and no menstrual bleeding has occurred before the 56th post¬partum day). When these two conditions are present, breast-feeding provides more than 98% of protection in the first six months. That became the basis for a method of family planning called the lactational amenorrhea method (LAM). Which is a new introductory family planning method that simultaneously promotes child spacing and breast-feeding, with its optimal. nutrition and disease preventive benefits for the infant. This method is based on the natural infertility caused by the hormonal suppression of ovulation.

[Lactational amenorrhea as a method of family planning]. / La amenorrea de la lactancia como método de planificación familiar.

The contraceptive effects of breast-feeding still play an important role in child spacing in developing countries; however, its use as a method of family planning was untested until 1988, when an international group of researchers met in Bellagio and reached a consensus statement that reads "The maximum birth spacing effect of breast-feeding is achieved when mothers fully or nearly fully breast-feed and remain amenorrheic (and no menstrual bleeding has occurred before the 56th postpartum day). When these two conditions are present, breast-feeding provides more than 98% of protection in the first six months. That became the basis for a method of family planning called the lactational amenorrhea method (LAM). Which is a new introductory family planning method that simultaneously promotes child spacing and breast-feeding, with its optimal nutrition and disease preventive benefits for the infant. This method is based on the natural infertility caused by the hormonal suppression of ovulation.

[Lactation and amenorrhea in women from the rural and urban areas of Yucatan]. / Lactancia y amenorrea en mujeres de las áreas rural y urbana de Yucatán.

Influence of environment and lactation patterns on amenorrhea duration and frequency of ovulation before the first menstrual bleeding postpartum are studied on a group of 100 women (half rural, half from urban areas). All subjects studied were highly motivated to breastfeed for prolonged periods. Results show a more prolonged amenorrhea, although not statistically significant, in those women from the rural zone. Ovulation frequency before the first vaginal bleeding was 14% none ovulated before six months.

PIP: 100 women in Yucatan, Mexico, participated in a longitudinal and prospective study of the influence of lactation patterns and rural or urban residence on the duration of amenorrhea and the frequency of ovulation before the first postpartum menstrual period. 50 women from the city of Merida and 50 from nearby villages were followed until their first postpartum menstruation. The women were of lower socioeconomic status and aged 20-31 years. All had breast fed at least two older children and none used contraception before the first postpartum menstruation. 25 women in each residence group practiced exclusive breast feeding in the first months and 25 mixed bottle and breast feeding. The women kept records of the number of nursing episodes or bottles given, and collected 24-hour urine samples weekly beginning in the fourth postpartum month for urinary pregnanediol determination. Monthly blood samples were obtained before and after nursing to measure prolactin levels. Ten of the 100 women withdrew before completion of the study. The women in all four subgroups were very similar in age, education, and family size. The average duration of amenorrhea was 10.58 months for the 49 rural women and 8.02 months for the 44 urban women, but the difference was not statistically significant. The 11.02 month duration of amenorrhea of the exclusively breast feeding mothers was significantly longer than the 7.34 months of the partially breast feeding group. At six months postpartum, nine exclusively breast feeding and 22 partially breast feeding mothers had resumed menstruation. 75 of the women (88.3%) resumed menstruation within one year. 13 women (14.4%) ovulated before the first menstruation, with an average duration of amenorrhea of 9.8 months. None of the women became pregnant before the first menstruation. Prolactin levels were significantly lower in the women who ovulated before the first menstruation.