Menopause-specific quality of life and attitude towards menopause among a group of postmenopausal women living in the city of Kolkata, India.

Abstract

We attempted to assess Menopause-Specific Quality of Life (MENQOL) and attitude towards menopause with respect to 'years after menopause' and also association between MENQOL and attitude towards menopause. One hundred and eighty-two Bengali Hindu postmenopausal women (aged 42 to 65 years) living in Kolkata, India participated in the study. Data on socio-demographic, reproductive characteristics, MENQOL, and attitude towards menopause were collected. Results revealed that botheration with symptoms related to vasomotor and sexual domains remained significantly higher among the participants within 3 years after menopause, while botheration with symptoms related to physical and psychosocial domains and the impairment in MENQOL were likely to increase with increase in 'years after menopause'. Participants who attained menopause less than 3 years ago had positive attitude towards menopause than that of those who attained menopause more than 3 years ago. Hierarchical linear regression suggested that score of attitude towards menopause was inversely associated with symptoms related to psychosocial domain, but was positively associated with educational levels and occupational types of the participants. We conclude that Bengali Hindu postmenopausal women reported impaired MENQOL and developed negative attitude towards menopause with increase in 'years after menopause'. After controlling the confounders, only psychosocial domain showed strong association with attitude towards menopause.