ABSTRACT
Objective: to determine the prevalence and severity of commonly reported menopausal symptoms among middle age women using menopausal rating scale.
Study design: Cross sectional study.
Place and Duration: this multicentre study was conducted at Benazir Bhutto hospital, Shifa International hospital, Holy Family Hospital and Punjab Employee Social Security Hospital Islamabad from 1st January 2007 till June 30th 2013.
Methodology:  two hundred women, 50 from each hospital, beyond 45 years of age with amenorrhoea of 1 year were included in the study. Women with surgical menopause were excluded. The main outcome measures were to identify the women with menopausal symptoms and to find out the prevalence and severity of menopausal symptoms, using menopausal rating scale. Secondary outcome measure was to find out the mean age of menopause among the study population.
Results: mean age of women in the study was found to be 52 years. Mean age of menopause was found to be 49 years. Eighty (40%) patients were illiterate and all of them were house wives.
Most commonly reported menopausal symptom was joint problem i.e. 180(90%) of patients followed by depressive mood 170( 85%), insomnia 160(80%), palpitations 140 (70%), anxiety 130(65%),hot flushes 120(60%),  bladder symptoms 60(30%), sexual problems 36(18%) and forgetfulness 20(10%).
Twenty (10%) reported no or mild symptoms, 40(20%) mild, 80(40%) moderate and 60(30%) as symptoms to be of severe degree. In our study menopausal rating scale ranged from 7-20 with a mean of 14.
Conclusion: the prevalence of menopausal symptoms using menopausal rating scale in this study corresponds with the other Asian studies. Menopausal rating scale is a comprehensive and reliable tool not only for identification of women with menopausal symptoms but also for finding out the prevalence and severity of the latter.
Key words: menopausal rating scale, Menopause, hot flush, Menopausal symptoms.

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