Quality of life and postmenopausal symptoms among women in a rural district of the capital city of Turkey

Abstract

Objective. To determine menopause-related symptoms and quality of life in women aged 40–80 years living in a rural area of Turkey.

Methods. A total of 338 women were evaluated in this cross-sectional study. As data sources we used a questionnaire that elicited information on the descriptive, fertility and menopausal characteristics of the women, the Menopause Rating Scale (MRS) and the Short Form-36 (SF-36).

Results. The mean age at menopause was 46.5 ± 0.4 years. The complaint stated most often as ‘severe or very severe’ was ‘hot flushes and sweating’ (50.7%). The physical functioning, physical role, bodily pain, general health, social functioning, emotional role and mental health scores of postmenopausal women were statistically higher (p < 0.05) than those of premenopausal women. Scores on physical function, physical role, general health and social function decreased significantly with age in postmenopausal women (p < 0.05), while none of the quality-of-life domain scores differed significantly with age in premenopausal women.

Conclusions. Quality of life is worse in postmenopausal women than premenopausal women, and in older than younger women in the postmenopausal period. Thus rural populations are primarily in need of public health care in the postmenopausal period.

Keywords:

• Postmenopause
• premenopause
• symptom
• age
• quality of life
• factors