Menopausal symptoms among healthy, middle-aged Omani women as assessed with the Menopause Rating Scale

Objective: The aim of this study was to analyze the prevalence and severity of climacteric symptoms and associated risk factors among a cohort of healthy, middle-aged Omani women. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 472 healthy Omani women between 40 and 60 years old from the representative regions of Omani society were surveyed using the Menopause Rating Scale. The scores obtained were plotted against their demographic data and menopausal stage. Results: Overall, 39.6% of the participants were premenopausal, 15.2% were perimenopausal, and 43.6% were postmenopausal. The Menopause Rating Scale scoring showed that somatic and psychological symptoms occurred more frequently than did urogenital symptoms in all three stages. Muscle and joint pain was the most common symptom (73.3%), followed by mental and physical exhaustion (47.2%) and anxiety (46.6%). An increase in the mean scores for both somatic and psychological symptoms and their severity was observed when the following factors were present: progression of menopausal stage (mean +/- SD, 22.5 +/- 2.6, 3.6 +/- 2.9, 4.5 +/- 3.2), old age (4.2 +/- 3.2) versus young age (2.9 +/- 2.6), single (4.3 +/- 3.3) versus married (3.3 +/- 2.9), illiterate (3.9 +/- 3.1) versus educated (2.7 +/- 2.6), and sexually inactive (4.4 +/- 3.4) versus sexually active (3.1 +/- 2.7). Conclusions: Omani women were found to exhibit highly atypical symptoms of menopause. Increased severity of symptoms was found to be related to age, advanced stage of menopause, and lower educational level.