Quality of Life Among Natural Menopausal Women and Early Surgical Menopausal Women: A Study from Greece.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The general health and well-being of middle-aged women have become a major public health issue worldwide. More than 80% of women experience physical or psychological symptoms during the transition to menopause. This study aims to compare the effect of menopause on quality of life (QOL) in two groups of women undergoing natural and surgical menopause.

METHODS

The sample consisted of 100 female patients from a Greek hospital in Athens, with an average age of 44.5 years, half of whom had natural menopause, while the remaining women had iatrogenic menopause after surgery for any reason other than malignancy. A questionnaire related to the QOL in menopause was used to collect the data. The scale used to evaluate the QOL of women is the Utian QOL Scale (UQOL), translated into Greek.

RESULTS

From the analysis of the data, it was found that there is no statistically significant difference between the QOL of women with natural and surgical menopause. Menopausal symptoms, psychosocial and sexual health, as well as the general health of the two groups, showed similar rates (OR: 63.7-66.6, = 0.248). The only statistically significant difference found was in weight gain, with natural menopausal women having greater weight gain compared to surgically menopausal women ( = 0.041).

CONCLUSIONS

Menopausal symptoms are associated with a decrease in women's QOL. However, QOL is affected regardless of the type of menopause transition. This study was not registered.