MENOPAUSE IN SLOVENIA: WOMEN’S CHARACTERISTICS AND THE FREQUENCY OF PERIMENOPAUSAL SYMPTOMS

  • Bojana Pinter Ginekološka klinika Klinični center Šlajmerjeva 3 1525 Ljubljana
  • Helena Meden Vrtovec Ginekološka klinika Klinični center Šlajmerjeva 3 1525 Ljubljana
  • Maca Maček Ginekološka klinika Klinični center Šlajmerjeva 3 1525 Ljubljana
  • Ivan Verdenik Ginekološka klinika Klinični center Šlajmerjeva 3 1525 Ljubljana
  • Alenka Pretnar Darovec Ginekološka klinika Klinični center Šlajmerjeva 3 1525 Ljubljana
  • Veruška Meglič Ginekološka klinika Klinični center Šlajmerjeva 3 1525 Ljubljana
  • Martina Ribič Pucelj Ginekološka klinika Klinični center Šlajmerjeva 3 1525 Ljubljana
Keywords: menopausal age, perimenopause, nutrition, perimenopausal, hormonal replacement therapy

Abstract

Background. We designed the study to determine the frequency of perimenopausal symtoms among women in Slovenia and the need for their treatement.

Methods. In the research 578 women aged 45–54 years were included during their visit at one of 24 participating outpatient department clinics for women’s health in Slovenia. The women were interwieved by one of 31 gynecologists participating in the study.

Results. The mean age of women was 49.6 years. Almost a half (48%) have still had regular periods, 29% were postmenopausal. The median age at menopause was 52.4 years. The major perimenopausal features were nervouseness (72%), anxiety (64%), sweating (63%), insomnia (60%) and headache (56%), less frequent were stomach pressure (35%), skin changes (32%) and dispareunia (24%). One-fifth (21%) of women were smokers (smokers had lower age at menopause as non-smokers, p = 0.01). One third (39%) currently took analgetics, 19% antihypertensives, 16% tranquillisers and 22% hormonal replacement therapy (HRT). The majority (81%) of women on HRT have found the HRT effects positive or very positive.

Conclusions. The high rate of perimenopausal features among perimenopausal women in Slovenia deserves special attention. The study has also shown that the use of HRT is justified when indicated.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Obermeyer CM, Schulein M, Hajji N, Azelmat M. Menopause in Marocco: symtomatology and medical management. Maturitas 2002: 41: 87–95.

Chim H, Tan BHI, Ang CC, Chew EMD, Chong YS, Saw SM. The prevalence of menopausal symtoms in a community in Singapore. Maturitas 2002; 41: 275–82.

World Health Organisation. Research on the menopause. WHO Technical Report, Series 670: Geneva: World Health Organisation, 1981: 8.

Meden-Vrtovec H, Pinter B, Andolšek-Jeras L, Obersnel-Kveder D, Kocijančič A. Perimenopavzalna znamenja pri 45–54 let starih ženskah v Sloveniji. Zdrav Vestn 1994; 63: 609–12.

Kroke A, Schultz M, Hoffmann K, Bergmann M, Boeing H. Assignment of menopausal status and estimation of age at menopause for women with missing or invalid data – a probabilistic approach with weighting factors in a large-scale epidemiological study. Maturitas 2001; 40: 39–46.

Amigoni A, Morelli P, Chatenoud L, Parazzini F. Cross-sectional study of determinants of menopusal age and hormone replacement therapy use in Italian women. Climacteric 2000; 3: 25–32.

Yahya S, Rehan N. Age, pattern and symtoms of menopause among rural women in Lahore. J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad 2002; 14: 9–12.

Kaufman DW, Slone D, Rosenberg L, Miettenen OS, Shapiro S. Cigarette smoking and age at natural menopause. Am J Public Health 1980; 70: 420–22.

Brambilla DJ, Mc Kinlay SM. A prospecting study of factors affecting age at menopause. J Clin Epidemiol 1989; 42: 1031–9.

Lindquist O, Bengtsson C. The effect of smoking on menopausal age. Maturitas 1979; 1: 191–9.

Avis NE, Stellato R, Crawford S et al. Is there a menopasual syndrome? Menopausal status and symptoms across racial/ethnic groups. Soc Sci Med 2001; 52: 345–56.

How to Cite
1.
Pinter B, Meden Vrtovec H, Maček M, Verdenik I, Pretnar Darovec A, Meglič V, Ribič Pucelj M. MENOPAUSE IN SLOVENIA: WOMEN’S CHARACTERISTICS AND THE FREQUENCY OF PERIMENOPAUSAL SYMPTOMS. TEST ZdravVestn [Internet]. 1 [cited 5Aug.2024];72. Available from: http://vestnik-dev.szd.si/index.php/ZdravVest/article/view/1955
Issue
Vol 72 (2003): Supplement II
Section
Professional Article


The Author transfers to the Publisher (Zdravniški vestnik/Slovenian Medical Journal) all economic copyrights following form Article 22 of the Slovene Copyright and Related Rights Act (ZASP), including the right of reproduction, the right of distribution, the rental right, the right of public performance, the right of public transmission, the right of public communication by means of phonograms and videograms, the right of public presentation, the right of broadcasting, the right of rebroadcasting, the right of secondary broadcasting, the right of communication to the public, the right of transformation, the right of audiovisual adaptation and all other rights of the author according to ZASP.

The aforementioned rights are transferred non-exclusively, for an unlimited number of editions, for the term of the statutory

The Author can make use of his work himself or transfer subjective rights to others only after 3 months from date of first publishing in the journal Zdravniški vestnik/Slovenian Medical Journal.

The Publisher (Zdravniški vestnik/Slovenian Medical Journal) has the right to transfer the rights, acquired parties without explicit consent of the Author.

The Author consents that the Article be published under the Creative Commons BY-NC 4.0 (attribution-non-commercial) or comparable licence.