Influence of demographic characteristics on menopausal problems of rural and urban middle-aged women of Dharwad and Bagalkot, Karnataka

The study was aimed at exploring the influence of demographic characteristics on menopausal problems among 160 rural and urban middle-aged women. The study was conducted in 2015–16 on the women who attained menopause and belonged to 40–55 years age and were from 8 villages of 4 Talukas of Dharwad and Bagalkot districts of Karnataka. A self-structured interview schedule was used to elicit the information regarding general information, history, effects, care and management of menopause. It consisted of 29 questions categorized as low, medium and high. The menopausal problems were measured by using menopause rating scale (MRS) with 11 items. The responses on each item were scored from 0 to 4 as none to very severe. In Dharwad among rural women 60.00 per cent reported moderate and 27.50 per cent severe menopausal problems. Among urban women half (50.00%) of the participants had moderate followed by 37.50 per cent who had mild menopausal problems. In Bagalkot 50.00 per cent of rural women had moderate and 35.00 per cent had severe menopausal problems. As against this 57.50 per cent urban women had moderate and 27.50 per cent mild menopausal problems. The age, socio-economic status (SES) and education were negatively associated whereas occupation was positively associated with menopausal problems.