Background: Disability associated with depression could contribute to declining quality of life of women during menopausal transition. Improving the quality of life of depressed perimenopausal women with disrupted familial, social and/or occupational functioning is one of the valued goals of treatment. This study was conducted with an aim to assess disability due to depression among rural women in menopausal transition.

Aims: To study disability due to depression among rural women in menopausal transition.

Methods: Sixty-one patients in menopausal transition, diagnosed with major depressive disorder were taken as subjects for the study. Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression and World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS 2.0) were applied to assess the severity of depression and disability, respectively.

Statistical Analysis Used: Statistical analysis was done using SPSS version 25.

Results: Mean age of the sample was 48.89±3.2 years. Among our sample of participants, 50.8% had symptoms of mild depression, and 49.1% moderate depression. Mild difficulty in functioning was reported by 44.2%, while 19.6% reported moderate difficulty on the WHODAS scale. Significant association was found between depression and disability in women during menopausal transition (p<0.05).

Conclusion: Taken together, our results have indicated that many women during menopausal transition experience symptoms of depression and have significant disability. There is a need to develop interventions to reduce disability thereby enhancing the quality of life of these women.

Keywords: Menopausal transition, depression, disability.

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Therissa Benerji

Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Dr. Pinnamaneni Siddhartha Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Foundation, Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, India