ABSTRACT
Menopause is a natural phase among middle aged women. It is characterized by a number of physical and psychological symptoms consistently occurring between the transition phase from the reproductive years to the non-reproductive years of women. Sometimes these symptoms could be so severe as to interfere with daily activities.
The objective of this study is to investigate the different menopausal symptoms and their severity experienced by female staff of the University of Benin.
Respondents identified to be middle aged women who were likely to either be pre-menopausal, menopausal or post-menopausal filled a questionnaire with a likert-type scale to indicate the menopausal symptoms they experienced and to what severity they experienced them. Demographic data of the respondents were collected in the first section of the questionnaire and the third section were used to answer questions to confirm if these respondents were menopausal or not.
About 25% of the study population claimed to be fully menopausal. Menopausal symptoms are most severe in those aged between 46 years and above, those who were married and those who were divorced. The most severe menopausal symptoms experienced by these respondents with the highest mean values include headaches, tiredness, difficulty in sleeping, joint pain and anxiety with mean scores of 2.4±0.8, 2.5±1.0, 2.4±1.4, 2.4±1.3 and 2.3±1.2 respectively.
The prevalence of menopausal symptoms in the study is 24.8% and are most severe in women aged 46 years and above. The most severe symptoms were found to be tiredness and headache. It would be helpful to create awareness amongst employers to develop programs that help in reducing the burden of menopausal symptoms.
