Background: Depression is the commonest psychiatric disorder in women. Menopausal symptoms include hot flashes, sleep disturbance, irritability, and vaginal dryness, which can give rise to depression in postmenopausal women.Objectives: This study aimed to determine the factors affecting and associated with depression in postmenopausal women.Patients and Methods: In this descriptive analytical research, 250 postmenopausal women who referred to health centers in Ahvaz were selected through an easy sampling method and studied. The beck depression inventory, the menopause rating scale (MRS) Questionnaire, and demographic information sheets were used to collect data. The collected data were analyzed with Pearson correlation coefficients, Spearman, chi-square, and one-way ANOVA.Results: The mean depression score was 12.17 ± 8. The total MRS mean in this study is 13.04 ± 8.01. The somatic dimension had the highest score, the mean of which was 5.48 ± 3.28. We found a significant relationship between depression score and MRS scores in all three dimensions (P < 0.001). The results did not show any correlation of depression score with mean age, age of menopause, body mass index, waist circumference, or waist-to-hip ratio (P>0.05). However, the level of education was significantly associated with depression (P<0.001).Conclusions: Increase in menopausal symptoms is associated with a higher severity of depression. Diagnosis and treatment of menopausal symptoms is therefore recommended to reduce depression.

Background: Investigation of influence factors in menopausal age could be helpful for better health service of women. In the present study we investigated the influence of syadat factor on menopausal age.Methods: During this descriptive- analytic study, 280 women at menopausal age were investigated at two equal groups. One of them was case group and another was control group. The study population included the 36-60 aged women with history of normal menstrual periods and at least one year amenorrhea. The excluded factors were the history of systemic disorders before menopause such as hypertension, kidney failure, diabet mellitus, smoking, (athlete’s women) professional sport and hysterectomy o ooforectomy. Two groups were matched for gravidity, breast feeding duration, use of OCP and their mother’s menopausal age. Data were collected by questioners and then was used for descriptive statistics and analyzed by t-test and X2.Results: The mean menopausal age among the all 280 women at study was 50.8 years old. 22% of them were under 40 years old, 44% between 45-50 and 33% older than 50. The mean menopausal age among the 140 women in control group was 49.9± 3.62 and it was 51.7± 4.7 in sadat (Those from prophet Mohammad family) that is 1.8 years more than general population. T-TEST, and X2 (P =0) showed that this difference is important. There was no significant relation between menopausal age and education, weight, use of oral contraception pill, parity and years of breastfeeding, mothers and sisters menopausal age were significant independent predictors of the timing of natural menopause.Conclusion: Study showed that sadat experience menopause in older age than others. This study also showed that the menopausal age inherited from father as such as mother.

Objectives: Early menopause is shown to correlate with an increased rate of cardiovascular diseases with age advancement. Smoking, physical activity, body mass index (BMI), and the socio-economic level are consistently linked with the onset of menopause though there is no consensus on the residential factor. Considering the undesirable relation of menopause with women’ s health, the present review sought to identify the correlation between the rural-urban factor and natural menopausal age. Methods: A comprehensive literature search, covering publications from 1984 to 2017, was done using several databases such as MEDLINE, PubMed, and Google scholar. Evidence from 13 research articles was analyzed for a rural-urban difference in natural menopausal age. The search was later expanded to explore correctable confounding factors such as smoking habits, physical activities, and BMI. Results: Rural women in the Asian region appeared to reach their natural menopausal age earlier than their urban counterparts. This was in contrast with the majority of findings in the non-Asian regions, suggesting a regional variation in the rural-urban difference in natural menopausal age. Based on the findings, earlier menopausal age was related to smoking prevalence and this relationship was consistent in both Asian and non-Asian regions. Similarly, higher physical activity was linked to the early age of natural menopause in both Asian and non-Asian regions. Finally, the results revealed the association between higher BMI and higher menopausal age in the Asian region although this association was not observed in the non-Asian regions. Conclusions: The rural-urban difference in menopausal age has regional variations with rural Asian women reaching menopause earlier than their urban counterparts, but this association was not replicated in the non-Asian regions. Eventually, this difference was affected by factors such as tobacco smoking, high physical activity, and BMI.