The environment and lifestyle are known to exert an essential influence on the health of rural women in their perimenopausal period.
Objective: To assess the determinant factors of health in rural women in their perimenopausal period.
Material and methods: The study was carried out in 150 patients of the Gynecological Clinic of the Independent Public Heath Care Team (IPHCT) in Tomaszów Lubelski, southestern Poland, between 1 August 2010 - 30 April 2011. The women, aged 40-60 years, lived in a rural environment or villages. The study used a Menopause Health Questionnaire (MHQ) and Menopause Symptom Scale (MSS). Statistical analysis was based on Chi-Square Test, as well as U Mann-Whitney test, with a pertinence level of p<0.05. Data basis and statistics were collected using computer software STATISTICA 9.0 (StatSoft, Poland).
Results: More than a half of the investigated patients lived in the country (60.00%), with the remainder coming from villages (40.00%). About two-thirds of the patients (66.00%) had completed college education, and the majority stated that their financial situation was bad (30.00%), or average (32.00%). Only every fifth woman (19.33%) regularly had a gynecological check-up each year. Signs of anxiety or a depressive mood appeared to depend essentially (respectively: p = 0.000; p = 0.02) on the professional status of the women. Only every fifth woman (20.7%) showed an appropriate weight. Just over a half of the rural women (50.67%) declared having a job.
Conclusions: The professional status of rural women has a notable influence on their general well-being in the menopausal period. The majority of rural women hardly took care of their health or well-being. Worse (depressive) mood, irritability, frequent signs of anxiety, palpitation, heat strokes, and sexual disorders become important problems faced by women in the menopausal period.