Prevalence, Severity and Risk Factors of Uro-Gynaecological Symptoms among Post-Menopausal Women – A Community Based Cross Sectional Survey

Abstract

Menopause is one of the most critical stages of life among women. Presences of uro-gynaecological symptoms (UGS) possess a greater influence on wellbeing and activities of day today life of postmenopausal (PM) women. The main objective of the cross sectional survey was to determine the prevalence and risk factors of UGS among PM women in Bope-Poddala MOH area.265 randomly selected community dwelling PM women, aged between 50 – 65 years were included. A selfadministered questionnaire was used to collect data. Binary logistic regression with SPSS 20.0 was applied to detect the risk factors for higher prevalence of menopausal symptoms. At least two UGS were present with all women studied. Among the reported symptoms, commonly reported, mild symptoms were dyspareunia (54.7%) and vaginal itching (53.2%) while stress incontinence (52.5%) and urinary frequency (48.3%) were reported as moderately severe symptoms. Urge incontinence (12.5%) and overflow incontinence (15.5%) were reported commonly as severe symptoms and very severe symptoms reported by the participants were dyspareunia (9.4%) and stress incontinence (5.7%). Married women (p<0.05, OR=5.802), unemployed women (p<0.05, OR=9.731), women with a history of dysmenorrhea (p<0.05, OR=0.416), age of menopause (p<0.05, OR=4.871), vaginal deliveries (p<0.05, OR=14.856), caesarian sections (p<0.05, OR=0.449), use of hormonal contraceptives (p<0.05, OR=0.003), body mass index (BMI) (p<0.05, OR=0.224) and breast fed duration (p<0.05, OR=0.024) were at a higher risk of getting UGS. This study identifies the high prevalence of UGS and certain risk factors for them. Alternative measures to improve to UGS need to be emphasized among PM women.