Sociodemographic influences on musculoskeletal disorders among postmenopausal women in Bangladesh

Abstract Background Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are very prevalent among postmenopausal women, which negatively affect functional capacity and socioeconomic status. The study aimed to examine the nature of MSDs among menopausal women and explore the association between various sociodemographic characteristics. Methods The descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out from December 2022 to December 2023. The data collected from 576 postmenopausal women who had gone through menopause and visited selected hospitals were included in the study group. The researcher used several questionnaires for this survey. Based on eligibility criteria, the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25.0 was utilized for analysis. Results Out of 576 respondents, the highest proportion, 24.3%, were in the age range of 46 to 50 years, where 290 were from urban areas and 286 from rural areas. The majority of respondents (85.4%) were married, 68.8% were from the Dhaka division, and 34.4% had completed their secondary level of education. The majority of the women (91.1%) were unemployed, while most of them were living in a nuclear family (64.1%). Most of the participants (48.6%) were from upper middle-class families. Among all the respondents, the majority, 33.2%, had low back pain. According to VAS, the pain mean ± SD was 6.11 ± 1.321. A significant correlation was found between sociodemographic variables (living place, education, age, religion, occupation, family structure, and socioeconomic status) and pain intensity ( p = 0.001). Conclusion The findings of the study revealed that the frequency and severity of MSDs are shown to be significantly influenced by the socioeconomic status of postmenopausal women in Bangladesh.