Severe menopausal symptoms compromise work-related outcomes

Women with severe menopausal symptoms appear to experience reduced work capacity and adverse work-related outcomes, as suggested in a recent cross-sectional study.

The study included 3,523 women ages 40–60 years, recruited from 30 healthcare centres across 12 Latin American countries. The Menopause Rating Scale (MRS) was used to assess the severity of menopausal symptoms. Severe menopausal symptom was defined as total MRS score of ≥14 points. Surveys were conducted to collect data on work-related outcomes, including absenteeism, medical visits, perceived reduced work performance, impact of menopause on work performance, and job loss.

Women with severe menopausal symptoms tended to be older (mean age 51.1 vs 49.7 years), have a higher BMI (mean 27.4 vs 26.7 kg/m²), be postmenopausal (69.9 percent vs 52.2 percent), have more comorbidities (42.8 percent vs 27.6 percent). Smoking prevalence was also higher in this group.

Additionally, women with severe menopausal symptoms were more likely to report more medical leaves (42.4 percent vs 29.5 percent), more medical visits (mean 3.9 vs 2.5 visits), and a perceived reduction in work performance (82.1 percent vs 56.7 percent). Many of them believed that menopause significantly reduced their work capacity (67 percent vs 24 percent). The proportion of women with job dismissals was also higher among those with severe menopausal symptoms (6.9 percent vs 2 percent), as was the proportion of those with voluntary resignations or early retirements (8.1 percent vs 4.7 percent).

In binary logistic regression analysis, severe menopausal symptoms were associated with greater odds of work absenteeism (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 1.64, 95 percent CI, 1.41–1.90), medical visits (aOR, 2.45, 95 percent CI, 1.97–3.05), decreased work performance (aOR, 3.13, 95 percent CI, 2.65–3.69), having the perception of menopause negatively impacting their work performance (aOR, 5.84, 95 percent CI, 5.01–6.80), job dismissals (aOR, 3.23, 95 percent CI, 2.21–4.72), and voluntary resignations or early retirements (aOR, 1.44, 95 percent CI, 1.08–1.93).