Impact of Genitourinary Syndrome of Menopause on Wellbeing, Functioning and Quality Of Life in Postmenopausal Women: A Cross Sectional Survey

• Published in: Pakistan Armed Forces medical journal 2024-02, Vol.74 (1), p.21-25
• Main Authors: Batool, Asma, Amin, Nabila, Yazdani, Tehreem, Zaheer, Fareeha
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Activities of daily living; Aging; Atrophy; Body image; Cross-sectional studies; Gynecology; Health surveys; Menopause; Middle age; Mobile communication systems; Pathology; Postmenopausal women; Quality of life; Questionnaires; Self image; Surveys; Vagina; Wireless communication systems; Womens health
• ISSN: 0030-9648; 2411-8842
• DOI: 10.51253/pafmj.v74i1.5402

Objective: To assess the impact of genitourinary syndrome of menopause on well-being, functioning and quality of life (QoL) in postmenopausal women. Study Design: Cross-sectional survey. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Pak Emirates Military Hospital, RawalpindiPakistan, from Sep 2019 to Mar 2020. Methodology: The study participants aged 30-60 years old, had last menstrual period about one year ago. The day-to-day impact of vaginal ageing’’ (DIVA) questionnaire was filled by the study participants who had one vaginal symptom regardless of its intensity and who was postmenopausal to assess its impact on well-being and quality of life. The comparisons of the mean score of every domain of the day-to-day impact of the vaginal ageing questionnaire were performed for the women with genitourinary syndrome of menopause and without genitourinary syndrome of menopause. Results: A total of 410 postmenopausal women were included in the study. A total of 302(75.3%) women reported with vaginal symptoms and genitourinary syndrome of menopause, while 99(24.68%) with no diagnosis of genitourinary syndrome of menopause. The score was significantly high (p˂0.001) in the women with genitourinary syndrome of menopause as compared to the women without genitourinary syndrome of menopause. The highest value was reported for the long in the genitourinary syndrome of the menopause Group and the lowest for the daily life activities of both groups. Conclusion: The quality of life of postmenopausal women, their well-being and functioning are impacted by the vaginal symptoms, specifically the...