National Journal of Community Medicine│Volume 7│Issue 3│Mar 2016 Page 160 ORIGINAL ARTICLE pISSN 0976 3325│eISSN 2229 6816 Open Access Article www.njcmindia.org A STUDY OF QUALITY OF LIFE AMONG PERI- MENOPAUSAL WOMEN IN A RURAL FIELD PRACTICE AREA OF A MEDICAL COLLEGE IN KARNATAKA Ravi Kumar 1 , Ayesha S Nawaz 2 , Sharan Kumar Holyachi 3 , Varadaraja Rao 4 Financial Support: None declared Conflict of interest: None declared Copy right: The Journal retains the copyrights of this article. However, re- production of this article in the part or total in any form is permissible with due acknowledgement of the source. How to cite this article: Kumar R, Nawaz AS, Holyachi SK, Rao V. A Study of Quality of Life among Peri-Menopausal Women in a Rural Field Practice Area of a Medical Col- lege in Karnataka. Ntl J Community Med 2016; 7(2):160-164. Author’s Affiliation: 1 Postgraduate student; 2 Assistant Pro- fessor, Department of Community Medicine, SSIMS & RC, Davangere; 3 Assistant Professor, Community Med- icine, Koppal Institute of Medical Sci- ences, Koppal; 4 Professor, Community Medicine, SSIMS & RC, Davangere Correspondence: Dr. Ravi Kumar raviskurle@gmail.com Date of Submission: 09-09-15 Date of Acceptance: 03-03-16 Date of Publication: 31-03-16 ABSTRACT Context: Women in peri-menopausal age group experience physi- ological changes, when they reach midlife. During this transition from pre-menopause to menopause, they may experience changes which may affect their quality of life. The study was conducted to assess the quality of life among the peri-menopausal women. Methodology: This Community based cross-sectional study was carried out among 214 peri-menopausal women (40 to 60 years) during April- May 2014, in the rural field practice area of a Medi- cal college in Davangere, Karnataka. A pre designed, pretested questionnaire based on Menopausal Specific Quality of Life (MENQOL) was used to collect information on Quality of Life. Statistical analysis used: The data was analysed using epi info 7. A Comparison was made between mean QOL score of each do- main for premenopausal and post-menopausal women using Wil- coxon Mann Whitney test. Results: The mean age of study participants was found to be 51.01± 5.9 years. The mean age at menopause was 44.06±3.065 years. Physical symptoms (98.6%) like aching in muscles or joints, decrease in physical strength were the predominant symptoms ex- perienced by peri-menopausal women. Conclusions: The quality of life of postmenopausal women was poor when compared to pre-menopausal women. Keywords: MENQOL, Peri-menopausal women, Quality of life. INTRODUCTION Natural menopause is defined as the permanent cessation of menstruation resulting from the loss of ovarian follicular activity 1 . Worldwide, the age at which natural menopause occurs is between 45 and 55 years 2 .Women in peri-menopausal age group experience physiological changes, which takes place comprehensively in all women when they reach midlife 1 . The term quality-of-life in menopause women often refers to the climacteric symptoms of flushing, night sweats and vaginal dryness which affect facets like personal health, self-satisfaction, and mental function 1 . The present study makes an attempt to assess the quality of life among rural peri-menopausal women. The aim of this study was to assess the quality of life among peri-menopausal women SUBJECTS AND METHODS A community based cross sectional study was car- ried out in the rural field practice area of a medical college in Davangere, Karnataka for a period of two months from 1-5-2014 to 30-6- 2014. Ethical clearance was obtained from institutional ethical committee. Before the study was started an area mapping was carried out to find the number of women in the age group of 40-60 years. There were 463 women in this age group. Women who at- tained menopause other than natural menopause