Prevalence of Climacteric Symptoms According to Years After Menopause
THANASAK SUEBLINVONG, M.D.*, NIMIT TAECHAKRAICHANA, M.D.*, VORAPONG PHUPONG, M.D.*
Affiliation : * Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkom U niverslty, Bangkok I 0330, Thailand.
Objective : To study the prevalence of menopausal symptoms of women attending the
menopause and gynecology clinics at Chulalongkorn Hospital.
Study
Design : A descriptive study was conducted at the menopause and gynecology
clinics at Chulalongkorn Hospital. After inclusion and exclusion were done, four hundred and twenty
seven participants with premenopause, perimenopause and postmenopause were studied. All the
women were classified into seven groups of premenopause, perimenopause and one, two, three, four
and ;:::five years after menopause. The interview was performed by well-trained social workers using
standardized questionnaires.
Results : The average age at menopause of the postmenopausal women was 49.46 ± 3.30
years. Prevalence of vasomotor symptoms eg. hot flushes in premenopause, perimenopause and
one, two, three, four and ;:::five years after menopause were 4.4 per cent, 25 per cent, 27.3 per cent,
38.8 per cent, 40 per cent, 11.1 per cent and 10.3 per cent, respectively. Prevalence of psychological
symptoms eg. moodiness were 26.5 per cent, 25 per cent, 54.6 per cent, 38.7 per cent, 32.2 per
cent, 11.2 per cent and 11.8 per cent, respectively. But the prevalence of headache in this category
was 29.4 per cent, 23.3 per cent, 23.7 per cent, 22.6 per cent, 25.0 per cent, 11.1 per cent and 13.2
per cent, respectively. Prevalence of urinary symptoms seemed to increase continuously after meno-
pause. Prevalence of genital symptoms eg. vaginal dryness were 5.9 per cent, 13.3 per cent, 25.5
per cent, 25.8 per cent, 15.0 per cent, 16.7 per cent and 20.6 per cent, respectively. Prevalence of
other symptoms eg. muscle and joint pain were 22.1 per cent, 43.3 per cent, 56.4 per cent, 58.0 per
cent, 45.0 per cent, 27.8 per cent and 28.0 per cent, respectively.
Conclusion : The prevalence of menopausal symptoms in this postmenopausal group
appeared to increase during the first and second years after menopause and tended to decrease
afterwards. The prevalence of other symptoms eg. dry eyes and headache appeared to be unchanged
after menopause.
Keywords : Climacteric Symptoms, Menopause, Years After Menopause
