Women's perception and experience of menopause: a community-based study in Alexandria, Egypt.

To determine symptoms, perceptions and practices after natural menopause by women aged 50-59 years, we conducted a cross-sectional study of 450 women from Alexandria. The most frequently recalled symptoms were tiredness (96.0%), headache (95.1%), hot flushes (90.7%), skin wrinkles (90.7%) and decreased sexual desire (89.1%). About 91% of women had never heard about hormone replacement therapy; 42.7% would expose their body to the sun; 12.4% were moderately active the year before menopause. Multiple regression analysis indicated that women's knowledge about menopause was related to marital status, education and employment status; practices were related to pattern of menopause, age of menopause and income.