Community Medicine Abstracts - College of Medicine and Health ...

Project No. 257 (2010)Knowledge, attitude and practice towards menopause and hormonereplacement therapy (HRT) among women in Al Ain, UAEStudent Authors: Noura Salem Mohammed Al Dhaher, Khawla Mohamed Hasan AlDhufairi, Fatma Rashid Mohd Ghufli, Hanan Ali Saleh RaeesiFaculty Supervisors: Dr. S. Shah, Dr. I. Blair, Dr. F. Al Maskari, Dr. S. ShabanAbstract:Objectives: Menopause is a significant life event for women carrying with it medical,psychosocial, and cultural significance. During menopause or menopausal transition,women experience psychological or physical symptoms with varying degrees ofseverity that may cause significant disturbance to their lives. This study wasconducted to determine knowledge, attitude and practice toward menopause and(HRT) among women in UAE.Methods: It was a clinic-based cross-sectional study, carried out among women of age40 and above. Study subjects were recruited from four Primary Health Care centers inAl Ain city (Khabisi, Masoudi, Al Jahili, Naema clinics). We used pilot-testedinterviewer-administered questionnaires, in both Arabic and English version, with 33items including socio-demographic variables, and questions related to knowledge,attitude and practices regarding menopause and HRT. Data were analyzed using MSWindows Excel and SPSS statistical software.Results: Out of 177 study subjected selected, 150 (85%) completed the survey.Seventy six percent of participants were menopausal. The mean age at menopause ofthe menopausal was 49 years. A substantial number of women had poor knowledgeabout menopause (67%) and HRT (73%). Sixty percent of women had positiveattitudes towards menopause, which were reflected on their practice. Fifty threepercent of women had symptoms; however, 35% of them did not use anything torelieve their symptoms. Knowledge about menopause varied significantly (P < 0.05)by level of education and nationality. We found a significant association betweenreported symptoms and attitude towards menopause and HRT (P = 0.04 and P =0.031).Conclusion: There is poor knowledge about menopause and HRT among women in ourstudy. This poverty of knowledge is mainly due to lack or low level of education.Generally, there is a positive attitude towards menopause, which reflected on women’spractice towards it. There is a pressing need for wide educational campaigns aboutmenopause and risk and benefits of HRT for the population.