Yashodhara Pradeep
Maninder Ahuja
Aging is an inevitable natural process often linked with declining health conditions. Healthy aging does not have a universally laid criterion but can broadly be regarded as maintaining robust physical, mental, and social health, leading to overall well-being. Midlife represents a critical period of health transition requiring optimal health attention. This escalates among women due to socioeconomic and cultural barriers and their physiological needs, which require intensive interventions to combat. Poorer quality of life (QOL) in midlife can deteriorate work productivity and associated economic loss. The fact that it can, at times, curtail longevity goes without saying.
Midlife is one such transitional period, which brings about menopause in women and demands significant changes in the QOL of women everywhere in the world. Menopause is a transitional time in a woman’s life, leading to both physical and emotional challenges which affect the QOL. It is accompanied by biological and psychological changes that affect women’s health and sense of well-being. Indian women, particularly from rural backgrounds, are often ignorant about the changes taking place in their reproductive system. Religion and culture of our society also inhibit to express of these changes.
Health-care professionals have a great role in addressing these issues to prepare women to face the challenges of reproductive health. There is a lack of awareness of the causes, effects, and management pertaining to it. Awareness programs need to be conducted to overcome these issues.
Challenges:
Lack of awareness about perimenopausal transition: Menopause of the causes, effects, and management pertaining to it. The lack of awareness in rural women is much more than in urban women about developing several conditions such as osteoporosis, urinary incontinence, noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), cardiovascular disease (CVD); problems related to cognitive and psychological problem depression, at menopausal transition; need of awareness program in primary health-care providers (HCPs) as well in public for a better life
Multi-morbidity is known as existence of two or more co-morbidities. It is associated with coronary artery disease (CAD); Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and associated with the poor QOL
India witnessed an increase in life expectancy from 42.27 years in 1960 to 69.16 years in 2017 due to health-care technology and quality advancements. The question remains, are Health care provider (HCP) are able to give them QOL?
There is inequality in life expectancy across gender in India, makes women outlive men and face financial social and psychological problems, which in turn affects their QOL
In India, chronic NCDs: CVDs, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases, and diabetes, typically start a decade earlier (around 45 years and older) than in high-income countries. Multimorbidity steeply rises in middle-aged adults with the accumulation of different chronic conditions, which plateaus among the elderly cause of poor QOL
At most important, there is no government focus on programs related to the midlife health of men and women. Government of India (GOI) focus is confined to sexual and reproductive health; there is an urgent need for political will to roll out health programs for midlife of the health of men and women to improve their health QOL productivity so they can contribute to nation building.
This issue of Journal of midlife health (JOMH) mainly concentrated on the issues of midlife health in various parts of India and the effect of obesity; thyroid dysfunction; metabolic syndrome; the importance of glycemic control; exercise and fitness; and evidence-based diagnosis of sarcopenia.
The problem of polypharmacy is common in the elderly.
We all know that the evidence suggests that there is a rising trend in breast cancer and it has become the number one cancer in women. Breast screening in midlife women is of utmost importance for the early diagnosis and management of breast cancer.
Let’s strive for quality of life in midlife women!
“Life really does begin at forty. Up until then, you are just doing research”
–Carl Jung