Women in India attaining menopause at 30, says study
Kavita Bajeli-Datt, New Delhi: In an alarming finding, a study has found that Indian women are now attaining
menopause as early as at the age of 30.
It also puts them at the higher risk of being affected with osteoporosis, heart diseases, diabetes, hypertension and breast cancer, said a study conducted by the Institute for Social and Economic Change in Bangalore.
The study, conducted by T S Syamala and M Sivakami, said that women living in rural areas are more prone to “premature menopause.” “It is of great concern that women are attaining premature menopause. Some women are attaining it as early as 30 years,” Syamala told PTI over pbone from Bangalore.
“Early menopause may be a risk factor for earlier mortality from diseases related to decreased estrogen levels and may promote increased incidence of osteoporosis, heart diseases, diabetes, hypertension and breast cancer,” she said.
The report, which was presented in the Parliament, has said that in India 3.1 per cent of the women are already in menopause by the age of 30-34, and which rises to eight per cent for the age bracket of 35-39 with the incidence of menopause being quite rapid after the age of 40-41.
The proportion of women in premature menopause is lower in urban areas (16.1 per cent)than in rural areas (18.3 per cent).
She said women who marry late do not need to panic as they have children late, resulting in delayed menopause.
“The proportion of women who are in menopause decreases considerably with the increase in education. Overall, women from a low socio-economic background reached menopause earlier than their counterparts,” Syamala said.
The study, said that there are higher number of illiterate women who are in premature menopause as against others who are educated. While among the illiterate women premature menopause is (19.5 per cent), which reduces to 11.1 per cent when the education increases for women, the study said.
It said that the proportion of women aged 30-49 who are in menopause is highest for Andhra Pradesh (31.4 per cent), followed by the states of Bihar (21.7 per cent) and Karnataka (20.2 per cent) It is lowest in Kerala (11.6 per cent), followed by West Bengal (12.8 per cent) and Rajasthan (13.1 per cent).
While natural menopause occurs between the ages of 45 and 55 years with a mean age of incidence around 51 years worldwide.
“The mean age of menopause is 44.3 years. This is the time when a woman’s life undergoes a transition from the reproductive to the non-reproductive stage,” Syamala said.
She said that this is a stage when the menustrual cycle stops for over 12 months and there is a drop in the levels of the two most important hormones in the body of women — estrogen and progesterone.
The data for the study, which was based from the National Family Health Survey of 1998-99 collected information from a sample of more than 90,000 married women aged between 15-49, which covers 99 per cent of India’s population living in 26 states.
The study said that the proportion of women who are in menopause by their age at first birth indicates that the onset of menopause is earlier among women who have started their child bearing at an early stage as compared with those who starated it late.
The study said nutrition and premature menopause are strongly interlinked.
Syamala said the study is important because the hormonal and behavioural changes during this period lead to a high demand for special health care.
Secondly, it introduces a major change in the morbidity pattern and also that as elderly women will outnumber elderly men, the health problems of an ageing population will largely be the problems of women, she said.
“In India, the public health care system has typically concentrated on women of chilbearing age and receives little attention when they move out of this bracket,” she said.
“As the primary focus of existing health care is on maternal and child health, the use of scarce resources for the treatment of non-life threatening conditions such as menopause may assume low-priority,” she said.
She said health care providers should inform women about this transitional stage and women should be encouraged to communicate openly about the problems they face during menopause.
“They should be informed about the importance of taking regular exercise, need for balanced diet, weight control and use of appropriate family planning methods in order to ensure a healthy life during menopause,” she said.
“India may have to anticipate the provision of relevant health services, education and promotional activities to cope with the health needs of growing menopausal and post menopausal women,” she added.
— PTI