A Study on Assessment of Quality of Life in Post Menopausal Women

OBJECTIVE: Menopause is defined retrospectively as the time of the final menstrual period, followed by 12 months of amenorrhea. Menopause is caused by the aging of ovaries leading to a decline in the production of ovarian gonadotropins oestrogen and progesterone.The deficiency of these hormones elicits various somatic, vasomotor, sexual, and psychological symptoms that impair the overall quality of life (QoL) of women. Hence the study was done to assess the effect of postmenopausal symptoms and their impact on women's quality of life. METHODOLOGY: A cross sectional study was done for the duration of six months in Employee State Insurance Corporation Hospital. The data such as the socio-demographic information and the menstruation status and the experience of the symptoms, as were tested in the Menopause Specific Quality of Life (MENQOL) questionnaire, were collected from each patient. The women who were included in the study were divided into two groups as the early postmenopausal and the late postmenopausal groups. All statistical analyses were carried out using Graph Pad Prism 7.1. A p-value of less than 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. RESULTS: A total of 200 patients met the inclusion criteria.Among the patients psychosocial symptoms were more prominent among early menopausal women when compared to late menopausal women .The vasomotor symptoms(72%),psychosocial symptoms(39.5%)physical symptoms(50.5%),sexual symptoms(26%) were prevalent and showed significance in both groups of post-menopausal women. CONCLUSION : The age of the postmenopausal women was not proportional to any symptomatic changes to women. Among categorized symptoms of postmenopausal women in MENQOL Questionnaire, physical symptoms (low back ache, joint pain etc.,) vasomotor symptoms (eg hot flushes etc.,), psychosocial (poor memory etc.,) were prevalent and shown to have negative effect on quality life of the post-menopausal women.