Awareness of menopause and HRT among women attending OPD of University teaching hospital

Abstract

INTRODUCTIONMenopause is a physiological process which happens with gradual decline in ovarian function. Menopause is the end of reproductive life. The average age of menopause is 51 years among the women internationally. 1Menopause is becoming important public health issue. In this modern world the life expectancy is gradually increasing, therefore the proportion of women who are menopausal is also increasing. In 1960, the world population of females over the age of 60 years was approximately 250 million, but it is expected that by the year 2030 population of perimenopausal or postmenopausal women might be 1.2 billion. This is quite an extraordinary increase. 2In the developed world women on average is expected to spend approximately one third of her life as postmenopausal women. Life expectancy has also remarkably increased in the developing world. So it is likely that women in India will also spend approximately one third to one fourth of their life as postmenopausal women. 3Attitude determines the way we deal with our problems in difficult situations. Massachusetts women health study did a longitudinal study on more than 2000 women between 45-55 years. This study showed that negative attitude towards menopause leads to poor outcome. ABSTRACT Background:The aim of this study was to find the awareness of menopause and Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) among women attending gynaecology outpatient in a university teaching hospital. Methods: Study was conducted in the outpatients department of women attending gynaecology OPD in Sir Sunder Lal hospital, institute of medical sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. It was done prospectively. Their awareness of menopause and HRT was enquired. Period of study was January 2013-December 2013. 67 women participated in this questionnaire survey. Socio-demographic characteristics, their knowledge of menopause and awareness of HRT were enquired. Results: Age range of participants was 35-55. The age range of menopause was 45-55. 80% of women were from low socioeconomic status. 90% were illiterate. 60% of women have heard about menopause. 40 % of women were aware of symptoms of menopause. Only 2% of women were aware of HRT. 66 % of women were sexually active. Conclusions: Relatively good number women were not aware of menopause. Majority of women were not aware of HRT.

Attitude of Postmenopausal Women Toward the Menopause and Hormone Treatment in Enugu, Southeast Nigeria

“…Globally, the age of menopause is between 45 and 55 years (1). Based on the findings of this study, the mean (SD) age at menopause of our respondents was 48.4 (±5.2) years, which is in line with that of other Nigerian studies (4)(5)(6)17). Further, the majority of women had good knowledge of menopausal symptoms considering hotflush as the most prevalent experienced symptom.…”