Relationship of frequency and severity of perimenopausal symptoms on the quality of sexual life of postmenopausal women living in urban and rural areas

Background: The changes that occur in a woman’s body during the perimenopausal period may influence feelings of attractiveness and perception of status in an intimate relationship, which may play a role in overall sexual satisfaction. Aim of the study: The present study aimed to analyze the influence of selected perimenopausal symptoms on the perception of satisfaction with sexual life in urban and rural women. Material and methods: This study included 224 women from urban areas and 106 women from rural areas who were using general practice services. Inclusion criteria were women who had not menstruated for 2–5 years. The measures used were the Menopause Rating Scale (MRS) and the Sexual Quality of Life-Female questionnaire (SQoL-F). Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient was used to assess the relationship between the severity of perimenopausal symptoms and satisfaction with sexual life. Results: A greater proportion of urban women reported symptoms in the perimenopausal period than rural women. Statistically significant correlations were observed for irritability (P = 0.03) and sexual problems (P = 0.01). However, rural women reported a greater degree of symptom severity. There was a statistically significant difference in severity of somatic and psychological symptoms between urban and rural women. In urban women, the average score for general satisfaction with their sexual life was 62 ± 19.96, whereas the average score for rural women was slightly less, 59 ± 23.56. A statistically significant inverse relationship was observed between the severity of perimenopausal symptoms and quality of sexual life, with values of Spearman’s rank correlation coefficients ranging from −0.490 to −0.064. Conclusions: Urban or rural residence had a slight influence on the frequency and severity of perimenopausal symptoms, and severity of symptoms had a significant influence on women’s satisfaction with their sexual life.