A quantitative analysis of the menopause experience of Indian women living in Sydney

AIMS: To examine the experience of menopause in Indian women (aged 45-65 years) in Sydney, and the relationship between sociodemographic factors and menopausal symptoms, and also to explore the cultural context. METHODS: Two hundred and three women were interviewed about their menopausal experiences in the preceding week using the 29-item Menopause-Specific Quality of Life questionnaire. RESULTS: The mean age of menopause for Indian women was found to be earlier than in other groups in the published literature, at 48.21 years. While there were higher scores for physical symptoms than for other symptoms, and there were significant differences between perimenopausal women and the others, it was found that the prevalence of classical menopausal symptoms was lower in Indian women than that found in Caucasians. However, physical and several psychological symptoms were found to be more prevalent than the usual vasomotor symptoms. Unemployed women and women with a tertiary level of education were found to experience a significantly higher score for all symptoms in our sample. CONCLUSIONS: Lower scores of menopause symptoms indicate that Indian women have fewer complaints of symptoms and a positive attitude towards menopause. Somatic symptoms are multifactorial in nature and could be because of health problems associated with ageing, midlife crises and cultural influences. Further detailed studies could examine the important relationship between cultural lifestyle factors and climacteric symptoms.