Samira Yahya, Rehan N.
Perceptions of menopause among rural women of Lahore.
J Coll Physicians Surg Pak Jan ;13(5):252-4.

Objective: The present study was undertaken to document the perceptions of Pakistani women regarding menopause. Design: Cross-sectional descriptive study. Place and Duration of Study: . The study was conducted in the suburb of Lahore from 1st July 2000 to 31st August 2000. Subjects and Methods: The data were collected from a rural population of 28,419 individuals living in 20 villages outside Lahore. A systematic random sample of 130 women was drawn from those 1337 women, who had reached natural menopause. In-depth interviews were conducted in local dialect. Results: The age of the population ranged from 42 to 80 years with a mean of 59.8±7.4 years. The mean age at menopause was 49.0±3.6 years. Majority of the women (82.3%) considered menopause as a positive change. According to 71.6% women, their relationship with the family had either improved or there was no change. There was an increase in libido among 70.5% women, decrease in libido among 5.7% and no change among 23.8% women. However, 16.9 % women reported dyspareunia. Seven percent of the women suffered a fracture after menopause. None of the study subjects reported postmenopausal bleeding. Three women (2.3%) had cardiac ailments. The proportion of women showing a positive attitude towards menopause was significantly higher (p<0.005) among our study subjects as compared to those from India, Thailand, USA and Australia. Conclusion: The majority of study subjects did not consider menopause as a negative milestone, loss of time, a partial death or a disease as seen in many western populations. On the contrary menopause is regarded as a natural phase in a woman`s reproductive life.

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