Health behaviors of menopausal women in Taiwan

Purpose: To understand the prevalence of women with menopausal symptoms, osteoporosis and urine incontinence, we used the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) data in 2002 and 2005 to elucidate the health behaviors of menopausal women in Taiwan.

Materials and Methods: The NHIS was a face-to-face interview survey with a nationally representative sample of individuals conducted in 2002 and 2005 in Taiwan. The sampling plan follows a multistage probability design and the response rate in 2005 is 80.59% (24,726 out of 30,680). About 6000 women aged 35 and above completed the interview. The definition of menopausal symptom is self-report of physiological and emotional changes caused by menopause.

Result: 18.4% of women at aged 35 and above have experienced menopausal symptoms, 2.6% were still using HRT at the time of interview. 51% of women took some health promoting methods. Regular exercise is the most popular one and calcium ,vitamins and other health foods supplementation taking were followed.

Prevalence of osteoporosis and urinary incontinence were found to increase with age. One third of women aged 65 and above reported osteoporosis. 30% of women aged 55 and above have been suffered from urinary incontinence. The risk factors for this are age above 45, Body Mass Index (BMI)over 27, parity above 4, past medical history with hypertension, diabetes ,and stroke.

Conclusion: This study provides information about health behaviors of menopausal women in Taiwan and suggests policy makers and health professionals that health education is widely needed.