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The aim of this study was to examine the knowledge and perception of menopause among middle age women aged 45-55 years. A focus group discussion (qualitative study), where information about individual experiences, subjective description of the severity of the symptoms and other relevant socio economic data was gathered. The participants were asked questions regarding the basic knowledge about menopause and the problems associated with it. After the analysis the result shows that women are unaware of symptoms during middle age and this effect can be due to lack of knowledge about the menopausal symptoms and hence they were struggling to cope with the bio-psychosocial changes and problems.
Keywords: menopause, women, perception, knowledge, qualitative
Menopause is a permanent shutting down of the female reproductive system, a considerable length of time before the end of life span. A WHO (2000) scientific group conducting research on menopause recommended the following stipulated definition of "menopause as a permanent cessation of menstruation resulting from loss of ovarian, follicular activity." The term menopause simply refers to the last menstrual period which is defined by not having had a period in 12 months. Although a technical definition of menopause refers to your last period, it is not an abrupt event but a gradual process. The average age of menopause in the western world is 51 years while as in India it is 44.3 years and the normal age range for the occurrence of menopause is somewhat between the age of 45 and 55. More than 80% of women report physical and psychological symptoms that commonly accompany menopause, with varying degrees of severity and life disruption Freeman et al. (2003).
India has a large population, which has already crossed the billion marks with million people over 60 years of age and number of menopausal women about 43 million (Indian Menopause Society [IMS] 2008). Projected figures in 2026 have estimated the population in India will be 1.4 billion, people over 60 years 173 million and the menopausal population 103 million. Average age of menopause is 47.5 years in Indian women with an average life expectancy of 71 years IMS research 2008. According to the IMS (2008), their use is unfortunately limited in India due to multiple factors. These include inadequate understanding of menopause...