2 days Ago By Dené K. Dryden
ROCHESTER — A recently published Mayo Clinic study evaluates how caring for a child, spouse or aging parent affects menopause symptoms. "The average age of menopause in our country is 51 to 52 years," said Dr. Ekta Kapoor, an endocrinologist and assistant director of the Mayo Clinic Center for Women's Health.
"Sixty-one percent of caregivers are women, and then the average age is 49 years, so as you can imagine, there's an intersection." ADVERTISEMENT Menopause occurs when a person stops ovulating and no longer has a menstrual period. The hormonal changes leading up to menopause, called perimenopause, can cause symptoms such as hot flashes, brain fog, vaginal dryness and sleep issues.
Kapoor and her study coauthors wanted to see if caregiving affected these symptoms, which can last for multiple years. "There's a fair amount of literature that tells us — and it makes sense — that functioning in a caregiver role can take a toll on the physical and mental health of the caregiver," Kapoor said. They recruited more than 4,000 Mayo Clinic patients for the study.
About one-third (37.6%) of the participating women had moderate to severe menopause symptoms, and one-fifth (19.7%) identified as a caregiver.
"A caregiver is basically a person who ...
provides unpaid care or assistance or support to another person with whom they have a personal relationship," Kapoor said. "This can be a parent, spouse or a child." The study evaluated how many hours each woman spent on caregiving and the severity of her menopause symptoms, which fell into three groups: somatic, or relating to the body, such as hot flashes; psychological, such as anxiety; and urogynecological, encompassing bladder and sexual function.
What Kapoor and her colleagues found: A woman was more likely to have worse menopause symptoms the more hours per week she spent caregiving. ADVERTISEMENT "The odds of having moderate or worse menopause symptoms in at least one symptom domain," or group, Kapoor said, "for women who were giving 15 or more hours per week of caregiving, compared to those who were not in the caregiving role at all, the odds were 1.77 — so, twice the risk of having moderate or worse menopause symptoms.
" That increased risk exists even though the researchers controlled for factors like stress. "We adjusted for relationship status, employment status — because one might think that women who are providing caregiving may not be employed — current use of hormone therapy, daily stress levels and overall mental health," Kapoor said. "Even after adjusting for these variables, this association persisted.
" There weren't any notable differences, Kapoor said, for caregivers of children versus caregivers of other family members. Kapoor said one takeaway from the study is recognizing how one's surroundings and relationships affect their health. "I think it is important to assess their health conditions, but it's also important to assess the environment in which they are living, because that can color their menopause experience," It also highlights is the need to adequately treat menopause symptoms, Kapoor said.
She referenced a 2023 Mayo Clinic study, which she also coauthored, that found an association between menopause symptoms and adverse work outcomes, such as missing work days due to symptoms. The researchers estimated that the value of that lost work in the U.S.
comes to $1.8 billion each year. ADVERTISEMENT "The first truth you acknowledge is symptoms are impacting women's work productivity," Kapoor said.
"But the bigger question is why should the symptoms be allowed to get to that point?" "If this study had to be done again where people's menopause symptoms were adequately treated, then would we have sort of the same outcome here?" she said of the caregiving study. "Probably not." The menopause and caregiving study was published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings in January.
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