The findings highlight a critical need to improve medical treatment provided to women and make the workplace more supportive for women experiencing menopause.
Menopause-related symptoms such as hot flashes, night sweats, mood changes, sleep disturbances, joint aches and cognitive difficulties cost about $1.8 billion a year in lost work time, and another $26.6 billion for related medical expenses, a Mayo Clinic study reports.
"The takeaway for employers is that there is a critical need to address this issue for women in the workplace," says lead author Stephanie Faubion, M.D., director of Mayo Clinic Women’s Health.
Menopause occurs at a mean age of about 52 years, and because midlife women are a sizable proportion of the workforce, the effect of menopause symptoms on absenteeism, productivity, increased medical costs, and career setbacks is notable.
Mayo Clinic researchers invited 32,469 women aged 45 to 60 who are primary care patients Mayo to participate in the survey. Just over 5,200 women responded (16.1%) and of those, 4,440 were employed and included in the study.
The findings, published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings, linked menopause symptoms and adverse work outcomes, including lost work productivity, with the severity of the symptoms strongly predicting the odds of an adverse work outcome.
The study authors say the findings highlight the need to improve medical treatment for women and make the workplace more supportive for women in menopause.
"A full 13% of the women we surveyed experienced an adverse work outcome related to menopause symptoms, and about 11% were missing days of work because of these symptoms," Faubion says. "We also found some racial and ethnic differences on a sub-analysis of the results, though more research is needed in this area, in larger and more diverse groups of women."
The survey was conducted between March and June, 2021. The symptoms were assessed by the Menopause Rating Scale (MRS). The mean total MRS score was 12.1, a moderate menopause symptom burden. The mean age of the 4,440 participants was 54 years, with the majority being white (93%), married (76.5%) and educated (59.3% with college degree or more).
A total of 597 women (13.4%) reported at least one adverse work outcome due to menopause symptoms, and 485 women reported missing one or more days of work in the preceding year due to symptoms.
"Adding to the complexity of women's experience of menopause is that the topic has been taboo, particularly in the workplace, which potentially adds to the psychological burden of symptoms," says senior author Ekta Kapoor, M.B.B.S., assistant director of Mayo Clinic Women's Health.
"Women often fear bias, discrimination and stigmatization, and therefore may be reluctant to disclose their menopause symptoms to their workplace managers and others. Recognizing these concerns and creating a safe workplace environment for women to discuss their health care needs may help address this."
“Our research suggests a critical need to address this issue for women in the workplace.”
Stephanie Faubion, MD, director, Mayo Clinic Women’s Health.
John Commins is a content specialist and online news editor for HealthLeaders, a Simplify Compliance brand.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
A total of 597 women (13.4%) reported at least one adverse work outcome due to menopause, and 485 women reported missing one or more days of work in the past year due to symptoms.
The symptoms were assessed by the Menopause Rating Scale (MRS). The mean total MRS score was 12.1, indicating moderate menopause symptom burden.
The mean age of the 4,440 participants was 53.9 years, with the majority being white (93%), married (76.5%) and educated (59.3% with college degree or more).