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Severity and Frequency of Menopausal Symptoms in Middle Aged Women, Rasht, Iran.

INTRODUCTION
Menopause is a natural event in women's life. Some studies have shown that, these symptoms can lead to low quality of life.


AIM
To identify the severity and frequency of menopausal symptoms in different stages of menopause, in a group of middle aged women.


MATERIALS AND METHODS
This cross-sectional study was conducted on 646 women aged 45-60 years in Rasht, Iran, who were included in the study by convenience sampling method. Menopause Rating Scale (MRS) was used to measure the severity of menopausal symptoms. Descriptive and analytical statistics by SPSS software version 19.0 was used for analysis.


RESULTS
Mean age of women was 50.7± 4.65 years. About half of the participants (49.2%) were postmenopausal. The remaining 18.1% (n=117) and 32.7% (n=211) were perimenopausal and premenopausal, respectively. The score of physical domain for menopause symptoms was higher in postmenopausal women. Joint and muscle problems were the most frequent symptoms in post and perimenopausal women. Also, total score for menopausal symptoms was more in postmenopausal group than other groups (p<0.001). Severe symptoms were seen only in three post-menopausal women and 55.2% of them had mild to moderate symptoms.


CONCLUSION
The menopause related symptoms differed based on the stage of menopause. Such studies are useful for creating awareness among women so that they can identify common menopausal symptoms and consequently may improve their quality of life.