Quality of life assessment inpostmenopausal women

Introduction. Menopause is a physiological process in every woman’s life, and even though it is not a disease, it can considerably affect its quality.

Aim. The aim of this study was to assess the quality of life in the postmenopausal period in relation to selected socio-demographic variables and the use of menopausal hormone therapy (MHT).

Material and methods. This survey-based study was performed with a standardized instrument for measuring quality of life, the SF-36 questionnaire Polish version, as well as socio-demographic and medical data collected using the questionnaire of the authors’ own design. The study was conducted among 205 women aged 45–60 years in Koszalin in 2010.

Results. Education affected quality of life only in the sphere of emotional functioning. The women who worked professionally had a higher quality of life in various domains than their unemployed counterparts. The results confirmed that quality of life in physical functioning, the role limitation-physical, and emotional functioning domains significantly depended on age. The quality of life analysis performed in users and non-users of MHT proved that it had an influence on the domains analysed.

Conclusions.

1. MHT improves the quality of life of postmenopausal women in such domains as emotional functioning and the role limitation-physical.

2. The quality of women’s lives gets worse with age, especially in the physical functioning, the role limitation-physical, and emotional functioning domains.

3. Education and professional work have significant effects on the quality of life in all life domains.

Nursing Topics 2014; 22 (4): 413–419