Health seeking behaviour among post menopausal women in rural and urban field practice areas of Gandhi Medical College, Hyderabad: a cross-sectional study

Background: The phase of menopause is a physiological event which occurs as a result of progression of reproductive ageing. Women from developing countries view variations due to menopause as natural process and there is no need for medical care. The objective of the study was to assess the health seeking behaviour among the post menopausal women.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in the rural and urban field practice areas of department of Community Medicine of Gandhi Medical College, Hyderabad. About 300 urban and 300 rural women were interviewed using a semi-structured and pretested questionnaire from August 2015 to September 2017.Results: Among the rural women, 100 (25.4%) women did not seek health care and among those who sought health care, majority (34.3%) preferred government healthcare services followed by 23% who consulted private facility. Of the urban women, 14.7% did not seek health care, 42% of the women approached private practitioner followed by 23% who sought health care in government hospital. Majority of the women (42.2%) did not seek health care as they thought they will be normal with time.Conclusions: More than one third of the women are not aware of menopause and related problems. Among those who did not seek health care, higher proportion felt they will be Ok with time followed by financial constraints, fear/shy, family problems and lack of transport.