==== Front
Innov Aging
Innov Aging
innovateage
Innovation in Aging
2399-5300 Oxford University Press US 

10.1093/geroni/igaa057.732
igaa057.732
Abstracts
Session 2906 (Poster)
Health and Health Promotion
AcademicSubjects/SOC02600
Menopause Symptom Experience and Perceived Well-Being Among HIV Positive and Negative Older Women in Ibadan, Nigeria
Omobowale Olubukola 1 Adesina Olubukola 2 1 
University of Ibadan, Nigeria, Ibadan, Oyo, Nigeria
2 
University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Oyo, Nigeria
2020 
16 12 2020 
16 12 2020 
4 Suppl 1 Program Abstracts from The GSA 2020 Annual Scientific Meeting “Turning 75: Why Age Matters”227 227
© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America.2020This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Abstract
Globally, people are living longer with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and older individuals are becoming infected. Menopause symptoms affect women’s health and are associated with perceived declines in wellbeing. This study assessed and compared the menopause symptom experience and perceived wellbeing among HIV positive and negative older women in Ibadan Nigeria Focus group discussions were conducted among menopausal women attending the ARV and GOP clinics at the University College Hospital Ibadan. Opinions of discussants on knowledge and experience of menopausal symptoms, perceptions about the menopause and perceived health status were explored. A total of 90 HIV positive and 92 HIV negative women aged between 40 to 60 years were sampled. Knowledge of the cause of menopause was poor, with more HIV positive women opining that sexual promiscuity causes menopause. The majority of the discussants had adequate knowledge of menopausal symptoms with most of them reporting vasomotor and musculoskeletal symptoms. In both groups, perceptions about the menopause were generally positive as most of them opined that the menopause means freedom from sexual activity and child birth. More HIV negative women perceived themselves to be in good health compared to HIV positive women. Menopause induces many of the same metabolic changes that are being observed with HIV infection, and this may affect the health and quality of life of aging women with HIV infection. There’s a need for health education and health promoting interventions that will help these women in coping with the double burden of HIV infection and menopause.