ORCID Identifiers

0000-0001-9388-1334

Document Type

Article

Source of Publication

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

Publication Date

7-1-2020

Abstract

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. The aim of this study was to investigate the knowledge of Emirati women aged 30–64 about menopause, menopausal hormone therapy (MHT), and their associated health risks, and additionally, to determine the relationships between Emirati women’s knowledge about menopause and their sociodemographic and reproductive characteristics. A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted of 497 Emirati women visiting five primary healthcare centers in Dubai. Data were collected using a questionnaire composed of sociodemographic and reproductive characteristics, menopause knowledge scale (MKS), and menopause symptoms knowledge and MHT practice. The mean menopause symptoms knowledge percentage was 41%, with a standard deviation of 21%. There were significant differences in the mean knowledge percentage among categories of education level (p < 0.001) and employment (p = 0.003). No significant differences in the knowledge percentages were found among categories of menopausal status. “Pregnancy cannot occur after menopause” was the statement with the highest knowledge percentage (83.3%), while the lowest knowledge percentages were “risk of cardiovascular diseases increases with menopause” (23.1%), “MHT increases risk of breast cancer” (22.1%), and “MHT decreases risk of colon cancer” (13.9%). The knowledge of Emirati women about menopause, MHT, and related heart diseases was very low; therefore, an education campaign about menopause and MHT risks is needed to improve their knowledge for better coping with the symptoms.

ISSN

1660-4601

Publisher

MDPI AG

Volume

17

Issue

13

First Page

1

Last Page

10

Disciplines

Life Sciences

Keywords

Emirati women, Healthcare policy, Knowledge, Menopausal hormone therapy (MHT), Menopause

Scopus ID

85087643214

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Indexed in Scopus

yes

Open Access

yes

Open Access Type

Gold: This publication is openly available in an open access journal/series

Download

Included in

Life Sciences Commons

Share

COinS