Measuring Clusters and Subclusters of Menopausal Symptoms in Different Menopausal Transitional Stages Among Women from Four Villages of District Uttarkashi,North India

Abstract

Indian women, particularly from rural settings, are more vulnerable to health issues due to social and economic marginalisation as well as limited medical facilities. Therefore, the present study is an attempt to broaden our understanding of the prevalence of menopausal symptoms, as assessed from the Greene Climacteric Scale, among women from four villages of Uttarkashi. The present cross-sectional study evaluates clusters and subclusters of menopausal symptoms in different menopausal transitional stages among rural women. A sample of 163 women aged 35–55 years was selected from Thalan, Mangalpur, Sara and Tiloth villages of Uttarkashi. An interview-based schedule was employed to obtain information about the demographic profile, menopausal status and reproductive history of the subjects. The Greene Climacteric Scale was used to measure the frequency and severity of menopausal symptoms in different phases of menopausal transition. In the present study, headache (98.15%), muscle and joint pain (97.54%) and irritability (91.41%) were the most commonly occurring menopausal symptoms, while excitable (20.24%) was the least occurring symptom among the rural women of the area under study. Post hoc analysis revealed statistically significant differences for all the clusters and subclusters of menopausal symptoms across the three groups of the menopausal transition phase. The total Greene Climacteric Score was highest among the post-menopausal women, followed by peri-menopausal, and least in pre-menopausal women, thereby indicating an urgent need to address the post-reproductive health of the women.