Survey on menopausal age and effective factors on it in the women

Menopause is a process characterized by a cessation of monthly cycle and a range of symptoms. Age of menopause can vary from one individual to another and it can depend on several factors. However there is no general agreement in the results of various studies. The purpose of this study was to examine the age of menopause and the factors affecting the onset age of menopause.

A Descriptive–Analytic study, on 400 menopausal women in Astara city who were randomly selected and interviewed. The data collected by questionnaire. Data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics, t-student, chi-square, Pearson and spearman correlation tests.

These results showed that mean age at menopause was 47.21  4.15 years. The most prevalent symptom was nervousness (67.2%), headache (52.1%), difficulty in concentrating (49.8%), muscle and joint pains (45.5%) and lowest complication was Parts of body feel numb (16.7%). It was found that age at menarche, parity, irregular menstrual cycle, use of oral contraceptives, marital status, mother's age at natural menopause and diet were significantly related to age at natural menopause (P<0.05).

In this study the mean age of menopause in women was less than the others reports. Since the socioeconomic status, reproductive characteristics and dietary are related to the age at natural menopause in women. Therefore, Menopausal age can be increased by proper planning to modify adjustable factors.