• Factors Affecting Quality of Life among Postmenopausal Women
  • Soheila Nazarpour,1,* Masoumeh Simbar ,2 Fahimeh Ramezani Tehrani ,3 Hamid Alavi Majd ,4
    1. Department of Midwifery, Chalous Branch, Islamic Azad University, Chalous, Iran.
    2. Midwifery and Reproductive Health Research Center, Department of Midwifery and Reproductive Health, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
    3. Reproductive Endocrinology Research Center, Research Institute for Endocrine Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
    4. Department of Biostatistics, School of Paramedicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.


  • Introduction: Quality of life (QoL) after menopause could be influenced by a host of personal and social factors. The aim of this study was to determine the factors that affect quality of life among postmenopausal women.
  • Methods: This is a cross-sectional study of 405 postmenopausal women, aged 40 to 65 years, who resided in the cities of Chalous and Noshahr, Iran. After a multi-stage randomized sampling, data were collected through interviews with the participants using the World Health Organization Quality of Life-BRIEF (WHOQOL-BRIEF), the Menopause Rating Scale (MRS), and a researcher-designed questionnaire. The data were analyzed using the statistics software SPSS 18.
  • Results: The participants’ mean total score of QoL was 54.53±7.18, with the highest and lowest scores obtained in the physical-health and psychological domains, respectively. A negative correlation was found between the scores of QoL (total and all subscales) and the MRS total scores. The total scores of QoL were in a negative correlation with duration of menopause (r=-0.127,P=0.010), gravida (r=-0.177,P<0.001), parity (r=-0.165,P=0.001), frequency of stillbirth (r=-0.104,P=0.037), frequency of vaginal delivery (r=-0.161,P=0.001), and waist-to-hip ratio (r=-0.195,P<0.001). The QoL total scores had a positive correlation with the educational level of the participants (r=0.207,P<0.001) and that of their spouses (r=0.160,P=0.001) along with their level of monthly family income (r=0.218,P<0.001). Multiple-linear-regression analysis showed that income adequacy, waist-to-hip ratio, and the total score of MRS were predictors of the total score of QoL.
  • Conclusion: Personal and social factors along with the severity of menopausal symptoms affect QoL post-menopause. These factors need to have a bearing on any effort to improve QoL among postmenopausal women.
  • Keywords: Menopause; Quality of life; Effective factors.