The North American Menopause Society 1998 menopause survey. Part I: Postmenopausal women's perceptions about menopause and midlife

Objective: To collect information relevant to the mission of The North Amer ican Menopause Society (NAMS)-i.e., increasing understanding of menopause-b y assessing perceptions held by postmenopausal women in the United States a ged 50 to 65 years regarding their menopause transition and early postmenop ausal years. Design: During the period from June to July 1998, The Gallup Organization c onducted 752 telephone interviews with a randomly selected sample of postme nopausal women aged 50 to 65 years from across the United States, based on questions developed by NAMS. In Part I of this survey, women were asked abo ut their personal experiences with menopause, their health-related lifestyl e changes since premenopause, their frequency of discussing menopause, and their rating of preparedness for menopause. Part II of this survey, includi ng use of hormone replacement therapy as well as use of heathcare services, will be reported in a future communication from NAMS. Results: The majority (51%) of the postmenopausal women surveyed reported b eing happiest and most fulfilled between the ages of 50 to 65 years, compar ed with when they were in their 20s (10%), 30s (17%), or 30s (16%). Many ar eas of their lives had improved since menopause, including family/home life , sense of personal fulfillment, ability to focus on hobbies or other inter ests, relationship with spouse/partner, and friendships. A majority (51%) s aid their sexual relationships had remained unchanged. Approximately three- quarters of women surveyed reported making some type of health-related life style change, such as stopping smoking, at menopause/midlife. Women who had undergone hysterectomy expressed more improvement than women with an intac t uterus, especially in the areas of sexual relationships, spouse/partner r elationships, personal fulfillment, and physical health; data are not avail able regarding the health state of these women before surgery or whether th ey experienced surgical menopause, but this improvement did not appear to b e the result of hormone replacement therapy. Women tended to look to women from their own generation for menopause-related information and believed th at they have prepared the younger generation for menopause better than they were prepared by their mothers' generation. Those surveyed advised younger women to engage in healthful activities and become knowledgeable so that t hey could make informed health decisions. Conclusions: Although the postmenopausal women sun eyed had differing views of menopause as well as their perceptions of postmenopause compared with p remenopause, the majority viewed menopause and midlife as the beginning of many positive changes in their lives and health, Hysterectomy was a factor associated with improved sexual relationships, spouse/partner relationships , sense of personal fulfillment, and physical health. (Menopause 1999;6:122 -128, (C) 1999, The North American Menopause Society.)