Another period of women’s life: menopause and its impact on quality of life

Abstract

Objective: In this study it is aimed to determine the severity of menopause-related symptoms in premenopausal and menopausal women and their impact on quality of life.

Methods: In this cross-sectional descriptive study, 300 women between the ages of 40-65 admitted to departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Family Medicine were enrolled. A questionnaire including socio-demographic data, Menopause Symptom Scale (MRS) and the SF-36 Quality of Life Scale were administered. Women were classified into two groups as pre-menopausal and menopausal period according to STRAW.

Results: There were 57 (19.00%) participants in premenopausal, 243 (81.00%) were in menopausal period. The mean age of the participants was 53.7±6.1 and the mean age at menopause was 47.7± 4.5. There was no significant difference between the MRS total score between premenopausal participants (17.7±10.0) and those of the menopause group (16.0±8.7) (p>0.05). There was no significant differences between premenopausal and menopausal women regarding the SF-36 scores (p>0.05). MRS scores and the quality of life subscores of role limitations-physical (rho=-.407, p<.001), and role limitations-emotional (rho=-.378, p<.001) had moderately inverse correlation between the participants'. Pain (rho=0.223, p=0.001) and general health scores (rho=0.152, p=0.039) had a linear weak whereas physical function (rho=- 0.313, p<0.001), mental health (rho=-.288, p<0.001) and social functioning (rho=-.171, p=.013) scores had only weak inverse correlation.

Conclusions: Psychological symptoms related to menopause start prior to menopause but there is no significant difference in menopause. There is no difference regarding quality of life between premenopause and menopuse period. As the severity of symptoms associated with menopause increase, role limitations due to physical and emotional quality of life declines.