THE PERCEPTION OF THE MENOPAUSE AND THE CLIMACTERIC AMONG WOMEN IN HONG-KONG AND SOUTHERN CHINA

Background. A lack of awareness of the long-term consequences of the m enopause may be a major contributing factor to the low demand for horm one replacement therapy in Hong Kong and China. Most Chinese women suf fer few acute menopausal symptoms, and it was our hypothesis that they had little knowledge of the risks of developing either osteoporosis o r cardiovascular disease as a result of estrogen deficiency. Methods. A prospective study was conducted among 200 Chinese women of all ages living in Hong Kong or southern China. A structured questionnaire was used to examine their perception of the menopause and the climacteric. Results. While 96% of women from Hong Kong and 73% from southern Chin a could define the menopause, none in either group were aware of the p roblems of either osteoporosis or cardiovascular disease in postmenopa usal women. Only 8% of women from Hong Kong and 4% from southern China knew that hormone replacement therapy could be used to treat postmeno pausal women. Conclusions. The results of this study confirm a relativ e lack of understanding of the climacteric in both groups of Chinese w omen. As menopausal symptoms are also infrequent in this population, m ost women will not have the need to consult a physician and will there fore not have the option of taking hormone replacement therapy to prev ent the long-term effects of estrogen deficiency. Considering the size s of the populations involved, the potential for reducing morbidity an d mortality through improved education about the menopause is consider able. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc.