M uturitus, 3 (1981) 11-20 0 Elsevier/North-Holland Biomedical Press 11 CLIMACTERIC SYMPTOMS: A STUDY IN THE INDIAN CONTEXT VINOD KUMAR SHARMA and M.S.L. SAXENA Department of Psychology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi-221005, India (Received 25 March 1980; accepted after revision 13 October 1980) The climacteric is a universal phenomenon which has received relatively little attention from psychiatrists, psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists and social workers all over the world, but almost no research on this subje;c h.as been carried out in the third-world countries. This study, carried out in India, has been conducted for the purpose of unravelling the difficulties that Indian women have to face during the climacteric. 405 married women between 40 and 55 yr of age from the general population were contacted and interviewed. The results, obtained with the menopausal symptom checklist prepared by the authors, indicate (as do other recent surveys) that hot flushes, night sweats and insomnia seem to be clearly associated with the menopause. Also the incidence of other symptoms is described. Despite embarrassment or dis- comfort experienced from these symptoms by a majority of women, only 10% had apparently sought medical treatment. This study underlines the necessity of a multidisciplinary approach to the problems of menopause and ageing. (Key words: Menopause, Menstrual age groups, Indian women; Climacteric symptoms) INTRODUCTION According to the Demographic Year Book of the United Nations [3] there were almost 302 million women out of a total population of 626 million in India in 1977. Of these 302 million women 15 million were between 40 and 45, 12 million were between 45 and 50, almost 10 million between 50 and 55 and almost 8 million were between 55 and 60 yr of age. The number of women over 40 is rapidly increasing, both in absolute and relative figures. This increase in numbers of this age group constitutes in itself a valid reason for the growing interest in the medical and social problems of the ageing woman. Fortunately, as a subject for scientific study the menopause has gained increasing recognition, particularly in the last three decades. Extensive surveys to outline the symp- toms characterizing the climacteric phase were undertaken by a number of investigators [4,10,14,18,19,21,24,26,27]. Other investigators attempted to delineate the age at which menopause occurs 111 ,I 2,15,18,19,22,26,29], while others extended their research to Address for correspondence: Vinod Kumar Sharma, c/o Mr. P.C. Sharma, 7/7 Kalkaji Extension, New Delhi - 110019, India.