TY - JOUR
T1 - The Association Between Severity of Menopause Symptoms and Qatari Women’s Quality of Life
T2 - A Population-Based Study
AU - Al-Shboul, Qasim M.
AU - Sendall, Marguerite C.
AU - O’Hara, Lily
AU - Syed, Mohamed A.
AU - Al-Jayyousi, Ghadir F.
AU - Hassan, Diana Alsayed
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2026. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
PY - 2026/8/19
Y1 - 2026/8/19
N2 - Introduction: Menopause is a natural life stage often accompanied by persistent symptoms, such as hot flushes, night sweats, and mood changes that can significantly affect quality of life. While symptom experiences vary across cultures, little is known about menopause-related quality of life among Qatari women. The objective of this study was to measure the association between menopause symptoms and the quality of life of Qatari women. Methods: An online, self-administered cross-sectional survey was distributed to all Qatari women aged 30-64 attending Primary Health Care Corporation Centers in Qatar for any reason. Results: A total of 512 women completed the Menopause-Specific Quality of Life questionnaire. The mean (SD) age of respondents was 48.8 (7.28) years, with a median of 50 years. Mean (SD) age at menopause was 48.83 (4.93) years. The most frequently experienced symptoms were feeling tired (88.0%), aching muscles/joints (87.0%), lacking energy (86.0%), decreased physical strength (84.0%), low backache (82.0%) and flatulence (80.9%). Menopause status was significantly related to hot flushes (p< 0.001), night sweats (p< 0.001), accomplishing less (p=0.042), aching muscles/joints (p=0.041), aching back/neck/head (p=0.011), decreased physical strength (p=0.028), vaginal dryness during intimacy (p=0.001), and avoiding intimacy (p=0.002). Psychosocial symptoms were reported by 63.2% of respondents, followed by vasomotor symptoms (66.3%), sexual symptoms (66.4%), and physical symptoms (75.9%). There were statistically significant differences in mean scores of vasomotor, physical, and sexual domains across the menopause groups. Conclusion: Qatari women experience the onset of menopause at a younger age compared to women from other Arab and high income countries and are mostly bothered by symptoms related to physical discomfort and fatigue. Qatari women experience a high quality of life in the psychosocial domain. To improve care, health systems should prioritize menopause awareness and education, develop culturally sensitive strategies, and integrate these into primary care to enhance the wellbeing of aging women.
AB - Introduction: Menopause is a natural life stage often accompanied by persistent symptoms, such as hot flushes, night sweats, and mood changes that can significantly affect quality of life. While symptom experiences vary across cultures, little is known about menopause-related quality of life among Qatari women. The objective of this study was to measure the association between menopause symptoms and the quality of life of Qatari women. Methods: An online, self-administered cross-sectional survey was distributed to all Qatari women aged 30-64 attending Primary Health Care Corporation Centers in Qatar for any reason. Results: A total of 512 women completed the Menopause-Specific Quality of Life questionnaire. The mean (SD) age of respondents was 48.8 (7.28) years, with a median of 50 years. Mean (SD) age at menopause was 48.83 (4.93) years. The most frequently experienced symptoms were feeling tired (88.0%), aching muscles/joints (87.0%), lacking energy (86.0%), decreased physical strength (84.0%), low backache (82.0%) and flatulence (80.9%). Menopause status was significantly related to hot flushes (p< 0.001), night sweats (p< 0.001), accomplishing less (p=0.042), aching muscles/joints (p=0.041), aching back/neck/head (p=0.011), decreased physical strength (p=0.028), vaginal dryness during intimacy (p=0.001), and avoiding intimacy (p=0.002). Psychosocial symptoms were reported by 63.2% of respondents, followed by vasomotor symptoms (66.3%), sexual symptoms (66.4%), and physical symptoms (75.9%). There were statistically significant differences in mean scores of vasomotor, physical, and sexual domains across the menopause groups. Conclusion: Qatari women experience the onset of menopause at a younger age compared to women from other Arab and high income countries and are mostly bothered by symptoms related to physical discomfort and fatigue. Qatari women experience a high quality of life in the psychosocial domain. To improve care, health systems should prioritize menopause awareness and education, develop culturally sensitive strategies, and integrate these into primary care to enhance the wellbeing of aging women.
KW - Arab
KW - menopause
KW - MENQOL
KW - perimenopause
KW - quality of life
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105047948427
U2 - 10.1177/00469580261448474
DO - 10.1177/00469580261448474
M3 - Article
C2 - 42617154
AN - SCOPUS:105047948427
SN - 0046-9580
VL - 63
JO - Inquiry (United States)
JF - Inquiry (United States)
M1 - 00469580261448474
ER -