Age at menopause, and knowledge of and attitudes to menopause, of women in Karachi, Pakistan.

Objectives: The objectives of the study were to identify the average age at menopause in Karachi and to assess knowledge of and attitudes to the menopause among Pakistani women in different social strata.

Study design: A population-based cross-sectional study of 960 women aged over 35 years was conducted.

Results: As insufficient data were available for 35 women, 925 interviews were analysed. There were 287 menopausal women, whose mean (SD) age at menopause was 47.1 (4.7) years (95% CI 46.8 to 47.6). Of these 287 women, 135 (47%) wanted their menses to continue and 235 (82%) had consulted a physician after the menopause. Of all 925 women, 58% knew the correct definition of the menopause, all had consulted a physician for various symptoms related to the menopause and 53% said that women should consult a physician premenopausally. Symptoms experienced by premenopausal women included lack of sleep (25%), fear of infertility (13%) and urinary incontinence (18%). The majority of the overall sample (52%) were sexually active. Of the sexually active women, 16% had marital problems, compared with 44% of sexually inactive women, and this difference was statistically significant (P < 0.0001). Source of knowledge about the menopause included relatives (35%), television (18%), neighbours (17%), friends (17%) and health-care providers (14%).

Conclusions: Evidence-based information about the menopause should be provided for Pakistani women.