Attitude of postmenopausal women toward the menopause and hormone treatment in enugu, Southeast Nigeria

Abstract

Objectives: Menopause is a naturally occurring event in which there is a failure of a woman’s ovarian function, thus ending her ability to bear children. However, the attitude of women about menopause and its treatment vary in different societies. The present study assessed postmenopausal women’s attitude and knowledge about menopause and hormone treatment (HT) in a private specialist clinic in Enugu, Nigeria. Materials and Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional survey was conducted on 400 consecutively selected women at the gynecologic clinic of a specialist hospital in Enugu through a structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were applied to investigate women’s attitudes using SPSS software. The level of significance was estimated by the chi-square test and P<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The mean age of the respondents at menopause was 48.4 (±5.2) years, and their ages ranged between 38 and 52 years. A total of 300 (75%) women had at least primary education. In addition, the hot flush was the most common symptom. Further, 236 (59%) of the respondents obtained their information based on experiences and older women while 64 (16%) of them received such information from books and the internet. Totally, 148 (37%) of women sought treatment in the hospital and 196 (49%) of them had heard of HT mostly from their physician. Even though they were aware that HT relieves hot flushes, they were afraid of the perceived side effects like cancer and heart disease. However, 10.3% remained as the current users. Given adequate information, 37% of the respondents would like to use HT. Conclusions: In general, an increased number of postmenopausal women in Enugu, Nigeria seek relief in the hospital and are becoming aware of HT.