Open AccessRelationship of frequency and severity of perimenopausal symptoms on the quality of sexual life of postmenopausal women living in urban and rural areas
Author(s) -
Grażyna Stadnicka,
Grażyna Iwanowicz-Palus,
Anna B. Pilewska–Kozak
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
medical science pulse
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2544-1620
pISSN - 2544-1558
DOI - 10.5604/01.3001.0014.6555
Subject(s) - medicine , quality of life (healthcare) , demography , spearman's rank correlation coefficient , menopause , rank correlation , gerontology , statistics , nursing , mathematics , machine learning , sociology , computer science
Background: The changes that occur in a woman’s body during the perimenopausal period may influence feelingsof attractiveness and perception of status in an intimate relationship, which may play a role in overall sexualsatisfaction.Aim of the study: The present study aimed to analyze the influence of selected perimenopausal symptoms onthe perception of satisfaction with sexual life in urban and rural women.Material and methods: This study included 224 women from urban areas and 106 women from rural areaswho were using general practice services. Inclusion criteria were women who had not menstruated for 2–5 years.The measures used were the Menopause Rating Scale (MRS) and the Sexual Quality of Life-Female questionnaire(SQoL-F). Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient was used to assess the relationship between the severityof perimenopausal symptoms and satisfaction with sexual life.Results: A greater proportion of urban women reported symptoms in the perimenopausal period than ruralwomen. Statistically significant correlations were observed for irritability (P = 0.03) and sexual problems (P =0.01). However, rural women reported a greater degree of symptom severity. There was a statistically significantdifference in severity of somatic and psychological symptoms between urban and rural women. In urbanwomen, the average score for general satisfaction with their sexual life was 62 ± 19.96, whereas the averagescore for rural women was slightly less, 59 ± 23.56. A statistically significant inverse relationship was observedbetween the severity of perimenopausal symptoms and quality of sexual life, with values of Spearman’s rankcorrelation coefficients ranging from −0.490 to −0.064. Conclusions: Urban or rural residence had a slight influence on the frequency and severity of perimenopausalsymptoms, and severity of symptoms had a significant influence on women’s satisfaction with their sexual life.