Sociodemographic pattern of postmenopausal women and health issues: A study in rural Bathinda, Punjab

Abstract

Background: The diminishing hormonal concentrations in women after menopause may trap them into a number of reproductive health deficits. Their lifestyle, occupation, dietary constituents, etc., affect the overall health. Unfortunately, women belonging to rural areas lack basic amenities and cultural aspects give them a backseat to pay heed to personal health. Therefore, it is important to take into consideration the demographic profile of rural women. Objective: The objective of the study is to evaluate postmenopausal women of rural Punjab for sociodemographic, reproductive parameters and health issues. Results: This study analyzed 425 women showing a high rate of illiteracy (74.6%), agricultural occupancy (85.2%), and consumption of vegetarian food (94.4%). The mean age at menarche and menopause was observed as 14.04 ± 1.12 and 47.97 ± 3.4 years, respectively. The most frequent complaints were fatigue (70.4%), backache (69.4), breathing problems (52.2%), and abdominal discomfort (43.1%). Conclusion: Later age at menopause in women was found concurrent with involvement in agriculture and exposure to pesticides. Delayed menopause may indicate a risk of reproductive cancers while protection in cardiovascular diseases. Therefore, age at menopause and dependent sociodemographic parameters should be considered important tools in determining the reproductive health of aging women. Large-scale studies dealing with this health aspect are warranted at village level.

Health and Nutritional Status of Postmenopausal Women Living in Rural Area of Tamil Nadu

“…Senthilvel et al, (2018) 11 too observed same percentage of married women (77.3%) and widows (21.3%) among the postmenopausal women selected for the study. Samtani et al, (2020) 12 showed that more percentage of women (60.2%) having only up to 1-3 children and only 39.3 percent of them had more than 3 children in contrary to our study where only 32.94 percent of the women had 1-2 children and 67.02 percent had 3 or more children. 12 where 94.4 percent of the women were taking vegetarian diet but similar to Tiwari et al, (2020) 13 who found that majority were taking non-vegetarian diet.…”

“…Samtani et al, (2020) 12 showed that more percentage of women (60.2%) having only up to 1-3 children and only 39.3 percent of them had more than 3 children in contrary to our study where only 32.94 percent of the women had 1-2 children and 67.02 percent had 3 or more children. 12 where 94.4 percent of the women were taking vegetarian diet but similar to Tiwari et al, (2020) 13 who found that majority were taking non-vegetarian diet. Around 79 percent of the postmenopausal women were taking 3 meals per day and 20.14 percent were having only two meals in a day.…”

Influence of Work on Andropause and Menopause: A Systematic Review

“…In a cross-sectional community-based study of 425 women with a high rate of farming jobs (85.2%), Samtani et al found that pesticide exposure induced a later, albeit not statistically significant, age at menopause [ 26 ].…”

“…The variables investigated in the studies exploring the influence of work on age at menopause onset were smoking [ 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 ], type of work [ 19 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 ], shiftwork [ 25 ], and use of pesticides [ 20 , 26 ].…”

“…Menopause onset was earlier in blue-collar than in white-collar workers [ 19 , 24 ], suggesting a possible incidence of prolonged physical effort on menopausal age. High job strain, repetitive work, and the use of pesticides seem to lead to an earlier age at menopause onset [ 20 , 21 , 26 ]. Finally, one work described an association between rotating shiftwork and earlier menopause [ 25 ].…”