Objective: Literature on women's experiences with climacterium is mostly based on patients or on North American women. In this study, the experiences and opinions of Finnish women were investigated.
Study design: In 1989, a questionnaire was sent to a representative sample of 45-64-year-old Finnish women (n = 2000); 1713 (86%) responded, of which 1308 were postmenopausal.
Results: Most women (87%) reported their health to be good or rather good. Symptoms were commonly experienced, but each symptom usually by a minority of women. Most subjective health problems were not related to climacterium as such, but were problems also encountered otherwise or related to aging. Some symptoms decreased with increased age, others increased or stayed the same. Comparing the symptoms reported in the past two weeks and women's own judgements suggests that hot flashes and irritability were specific to climacterium. Most women had a neutral or positive opinion of climacterium in general.
Conclusion: Our study challenges the view that climacterium is a time of big subjective health problems.