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Introduction: Perimenopause is the time when ovaries gradually produce less estrogen. The menopausal symptoms in perimenopausal women cause severe disturbance in the women’s life. This study aimed to identify menopausal symptoms in perimenopausal women. Methods: This was a hospital-based descriptive, cross-sectional study conducted among 243 women aged between 45 to 55 years. The categorical variables were presented as frequency and percentage. The associations between categorical variables were tested using Chi-square or Fisher exact test. Result: The total prevalence of menopausal symptoms was 91.8%. Physical symptoms were identified to be prevailing symptom(n=184, 75.7%) followed by psychological (n=167, 69.5%). There were 136 (55.5%) women experiencing poor memory and 148 (60.9%) women having genitourinary symptoms. Stress urinary incontinence (n=73, 30.04%) was predominant over urge (n=58, 23.8%), mixed (n=43, 17.6%) and prolapse (n=49, 20.1%) symptoms. Vasomotor symptoms were experienced by123 (50.6%). Excessive sweating (n=114, 46.9%) was leading over hot flush(n=113, 46.5%), night sweat (n=107, 44.03%) and palpitation (n=96, 39.5%). A total of 114 (46.9%) women were facing sexual symptoms. The common sexual symptom was dyspareunia 68 (27.9%). The Menopausal Rating Scale (MRS) rating of overall symptoms showed women mostly suffer from mild symptoms during the perimenopausal period. Conclusion: Physical symptoms were identified to be predominating followed by psychological, genitourinary, vasomotor, and sexual. However rating of symptoms using MRS showed the majority of symptoms were mild. This study signifies the need to use the tool for the assessment of the severity of menopausal symptoms from the perimenopausal group.

Introduction: Anemia is a major risk factor for poor maternal health status. Anemia during pregnancy leads to poor birth outcomes such as fetal anemia, low birth weight, preterm birth, stillbirth, and neonatal mortality. This study aimed to assess the effect of anemia in pregnancy and its perinatal outcome. Methods: A prospective study was conducted among 370 pregnant women in Dhulikhel Hospital, Kavre from June 2017 to December 2017. Descriptive statistics were used to represent the socio-clinical characteristics. Bivariate analysis was performed to analyze the effect of anemia. Results: The study found that all the participants were anemic out of which mild anemia was observed in 352 (95.4%), moderate anemia in 17 (4.6%), and severe anemia in one (0.3%) participants respectively. Women aged 17 to 24 years and multiparous women had higher odds of having moderate anemia (Hb 7.0-8.9 g/dL). Women with moderate anemia had more odds of having neonates with less Apgar scores. Women with moderate anemia had nine times higher odds of having newborn mortality. Conclusion: Anemia during pregnancy not only affects the health status of the mother but also impacts the birth outcomes. This study highlighted the emphasis on the active participation of governmental and non-governmental organizations to prevent adverse effects of anemia during pregnancy and birth outcomes.

Introduction: The postpartum period is a high-risk time for unintended pregnancies. A short inter-pregnancy interval leads to a series of complications for both the mother and the fetus. Postpartum contraceptive knowledge helps women decide the time frame for future pregnancy and prepare. The study aimed to find out the prevalence of postpartum family planning among women undergoing deliveries in a tertiary care hospital. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted from hospital records of all postpartum women delivering in a tertiary care hospital from Jan 2017 to Jan 2019. Ethical approval was taken from the Institutional Review Committee (IRC) of Kathmandu University School of Medical Sciences/Dhulikhel Hospital (reference number: 62/19). Convenience sampling was done. Data was entered and analyzed using Statistical Package of the Social Sciences version 26. Point estimate at 95% Confidence Interval was calculated along with frequency and proportion for binary data. Results: Out of 4205 deliveries, 1211 (28.7%) (27.33-30.06 at 95% Confidence Interval) women utilized postpartum family planning. Depot-medroxyprogesterone acetate was adopted by a majority of the participants 802 (19.1%). Conclusions: The use of postpartum contraception in this study was similar to the findings from studies done in national data and studies.