Symptomatology of Menopausal Transition in Women between 40 To 55 Years to Find the Predominance of Symptoms during the Various Stages of Menopause - One Year Cross Sectional Study

Abstract

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of various symptoms during various stages of menopausal transition. METHODS: A cr oss sect i onal i nformat i on regardi ng s ympt oms f rom 475 women between 40 to 55 years attending women health clinic, at KLEs Hospital was collected. Menopausal status was identified on the basis of answers to a series of questions about menstrual patterns. Inclusion criteria were all women between 40 to 55 years of age. Exclusion criteria being women who have reported having taken estrogen and / or progestin in past 3 months; those pregnant and/ or breast feeding, those who did not have menses due to ‘surgical’ menopause; severe weight loss, radio-therapy and chemo- therapy and those who could not remember their menstrual history. Women included in the present study were staged into Premenopause, Early peri-menopause, late peri- menopause and post-menopause. IX RESULT & CONCLUSION : 456 women satisfied inclusion criteria. The most common symptom reported among all stages of menopause is bone pain having a prevalence of 44.3%. Hot flashes and night sweats had prevalence of 20 to 21% among all women analyzed. Vasomotor symptoms were more common in late peri-menopausal period. There is a symptom clustering among vasomotor symptoms, depression, difficulty sleeping and they increase during the late - perimenopausal period ( p=0.001) . Further longitudinal studies are needed in an Indian setup with regard to the subject to arrive at specific treatment approaches depending on various stages of menopause.