Symptoms on the Path to Menopause: Research

The lived experience on the path to menopause is not well-researched. Our 2020 WLB Survey aimed to change that.

Here we share the findings from our first published research paper. Our goal was to better characterize the symptom experience before and after noticeable menstrual cycle changes. Our hypothesis was that for many, symptoms begin earlier than we expected them — before periods and cycles change significantly.

Top 4 findings (1st paper)

Symptoms begin before periods are irregular. This can be in your late 30s/early 40s.
Yet 59% of respondents expected changes associated with menopause to begin at 50 or later — a mismatch between our expectations and our experiences!
Similar symptoms occur before and after periods become irregular.
The symptoms experienced include far more than hot flashes.

See the whole paper

Symptoms Reported: Regular Periods w/ subtle changes*

% reporting

I am more forgetful

I am irritable (e.g. short tempered, impatient with others)

I have sore breasts, breast tenderness

I have a harder time concentrating

I am less interested in sexual activities

I am experiencing new fatigue, tiredness

I have feelings of anxiety (e.g. more nervous)

My skin is drier than it used to be

I wake in the middle of the night (for 1+ hour)

I feel easily overwhelmed, less able to cope

I have urinary leakage w/ sneeze or cough

I have night or cold sweats

*Definitions of Survey Groups

Regular w/ subtle changes

Respondents were getting a regular period (3 or 4 periods in the past 3 months).
And they reported changes in cycle length, amount of flow (heavier or lighter) or days of flow (greater or fewer).
According to the framework used by the research and healthcare community, this group is in the Late Reproductive Stage.
There were 945 respondents in this group.

Irregular

These respondents were having irregular periods (2 or fewer periods in the past 3 months).
According to the framework used by the research and healthcare community, this group is in the Menopausal Transition.
There were 491 respondents in this group.

All

This is the combination of the two groups above.
There were 1436 respondents in this group.

Symptoms Reported: Irregular (green) vs Regular w/subtle changes (navy)

% reported

I am more forgetful (irregular)

I am more forgetful (regular)

I am irritable (irregular)

I am irritable (regular)

I have sore breasts, breast tenderness (irregular)

I have sore breasts, breast tenderness (regular)

I have a harder time concentrating (irregular)

I have a harder time concentrating (regular)

I am less interested in sexual activities (irregular)

I am less interested in sexual activities (regular)

I am experiencing new fatigue, tiredness (irregular)

I am experiencing new fatigue, tiredness (regular)

I have feelings of anxiety (irregular)

I have feelings of anxiety (regular)

My skin is drier than it used to be (irregular)

My skin is drier than it used to be (regular)

I wake in the middle of the night (for 1+ hour) (irregular)

I wake in the middle of the night (for 1+ hour)(regular)

I feel easily overwhelmed, less able to cope (irregular)

I feel easily overwhelmed, less able to cope (regular)

I have urinary leakage w/ sneeze or cough (irregular)

I have urinary leakage w/ sneeze or cough (regular)

I have new facial hairs (irregular)

I have new facial hairs (regular)

I have night or cold sweats (irregular)

I have night or cold sweats(regular)

I have low feelings (irregular)

I have low feelings (regular)

My eyes are drier (irregular)

My eyes are drier (regular)

I have hot flashes (irregular)

I have hot flashes (regular)

Update October 28, 2021

Thanks to a GoFundMe campaign, we were able to make our paper open access and freely available to all. While the paper is long, we highly encourage you to scroll to Tables 3, 4 and 5 in the results section.

Viewing these tables will assure you that:

You are NOT alone!
The things you are experiencing are real.
You are not going crazy.

ADDITIONAL PUBLISHED RESEARCH

We continue to analyze data from this survey to help fill the vast knowledge gap about perimenopause. To date, we’ve published 6 papers in peer-reviewed journals and have presented several posters at conferences.

All published research and posters

RECOGNITION

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The North American Menopause Society 2021 Media Award Recipient

The NAMS Media Award recognizes a media professional whose body of work, through any consumer media outlet (ie, print, television, radio, Internet), has served to expand the knowledge and understanding of menopause.

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NAMS Poster Prize Winner! Women’s Experience of The Late Reproductive Stage: Findings from the Women Living Better Survey

We won the poster prize for our overview of the survey and the data we had collected from the English version about the Late Reproductive Stage participants through the end of June 2020 to the North American Menopause Society’s 2020 Meeting

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2020 Sharecare Awards Finalist for Women’s Health programming

The Sharecare Awards seek to attract and reward excellence for the very best in health-related programming: including documentaries, series, shorts, web/online programming, apps, and audio recordings.

Symptoms on the Path to Menopause, Ages 35 to 55 — 2020 WLB Survey Findings