The Health Characteristics and Health Needs of Perimenopausal Women in the Community

Background With the continuous development of society and technological innovations, the average life expectancy of human beings has gradually increased, leading to the gradual increase in the number of perimenopausal women. This trend poses a serious challenge to the management of perimenopausal health in the community. Objective To understand the health characteristics and health needs of perimenopausal women in the community, explore the relationship between the two, and provide evidence to support the development and improvement of perimenopausal health management in community health service organisations. Methods Perimenopausal women (n=260) who attended or were accompanied to the Huamu Community Health Service Centre and its subordinate stations in Pudong New Area, Shanghai, from February to March 2023 were selected as study subjects. Questionnaires were used to collect information on the health characteristics of the study subjects (related to physiological stage, social characteristics, disease status, lifestyle, and quality of life), their knowledge of menopause and attitudes toward treatment, as well as their needs for knowledge related to menopause and preventive health care for menopausal diseases. Results Fifty percent (130/260) of perimenopausal women had a current history of chronic disease, 51.9% (135/260) of perimenopausal women had a past history of chronic disease, 73.8% (192/260) of perimenopausal women had fair/poor quality of sleep, 33.5% (87/260) of perimenopausal women did little exercise. 58.5% (152/260) of perimenopausal women were completely unaware or had only heard of menopause, 41.9% (109/260) of perimenopausal women had a negative attitude towards menopause treatment, 45.0% (117/126) of perimenopausal women needed menopause-related knowledge, and 66.6% (173/260) of perimenopausal women needed preventive health care for menopausal diseases. The results of ordered multicategorical Logistic regression analyses showed that literacy, the number of menopausal symptoms in the last 3 monthss, and attitudes toward menopause treatment were the factors influencing perimenopausal women's need for menopause-related knowledge (P<0.05), and literacy and attitudes toward menopause treatment were the factors influencing perimenopausal women's need for preventive health care for menopausal diseases (P<0.05) . Conclusion This study reveals the influence of health characteristics (e.g., literacy level, symptom severity) on health needs of perimenopausal women. Community health service providers should optimise health management programmes for perimenopausal women based on accurate data and provide comprehensive and personalised health management services for perimenopausal women in the community.