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2016 Kickoff Survey

To kick off the WLB project, we conducted a survey to learn about women's experiences in the years leading up to and after menopause.

We began with a kickoff survey to determine whether women needed better information about perimenopause. It turns out they did!

For this, our first (kickoff) survey, we gathered information from women 35 to 80. For those who were beyond menopause, we asked them about what they wished they’d known and what things helped them. For those in the menopause transition, we asked about symptoms and interactions with healthcare.

We asked friends and family to share our survey. In three weeks, we got over 430 responses! We were surprised — it was considerably more than we anticipated. Clearly, we hit upon a topic that needed more time and attention. Here is an overview of what we learned from this research.

Note: We’ve since done other surveys, so we refer to this one as our 2016 kickoff survey.

Age of Perimenopause and Menopause Survey Respondents

age of respondents in perimenopause and menopause survey dataGrouping of Women by Cycling or Non-cycling stage

respondents by cycle type in perimenopause and menopause survey dataFor women who were still getting periods, having irregular periods, or within 5 years of menopause, we asked about symptoms.

Here is what we learned.

Symptoms Reported by All Women

symptoms reported by all women in perimenopause and menopause survey dataSymptoms Reported by Women with Regular Menstrual Cycles

symptoms reported by women with regular cycles in perimenopause and menopause surveySymptoms Reported by Women with Irregular Menstrual Cycles

symptoms reported by women with irregular cycles in perimenopause and menopause survey

Symptoms Reported by Women with IUDs or Endometrial Ablations

symptoms reported by women with IUDs or endometrial ablations in perimenopause and menopause surveySymptoms Reported by Women Who Were on The Pill

symptoms reported by women on birth control pill in perimenopause and menopause survey

Some quotes from our kickoff survey:

I am very glad you are doing this. I’m in my fifties now, but peri-menopause was very hard with extreme fatigue and irritability. I asked several doctors — both primary and OB-GYN — and they were no help at all!

— Survey participant

As a women’s health care provider I am embarrassed to admit that I know very little about this topic. I am surprised by the limited number resources relating to menopause.

I think that it is great that you are doing research on this. I’ve had many conversations with friends in my age group on this topic. There seems to be a lack of information. I feel that changes in women, especially dealing with sleep and anxiety during this stage are just glossed over. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that what is being labeled as anxiety is largely hormonal due to changes in this phase.