TY - JOUR
T1 - Impact of Menopausal Symptoms on Work
T2 - Findings from Women in the Health and Employment after Fifty (HEAF) Study
AU - D’Angelo, Stefania
AU - Bevilacqua, Gregorio
AU - Hammond, Julia
AU - Zaballa, Elena
AU - Dennison, Elaine M.
AU - Walker-Bone, Karen
N1 - Funding Information:
The HEAF study is funded by the Medical Research Council programme grant (MC_UU_12011/5), and by grant awards from Versus Arthritis (formerly Arthritis Research UK) (22090); and the Economic and Social Research Council and Medical Research Council jointly (ES/L002663/1). For the purpose of open access, the author has applied a CC BY public copyright licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising from this submission.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 by the authors.
PY - 2023/1
Y1 - 2023/1
N2 - Women make up a growing proportion of the workforce and therefore many women experience menopause while in paid employment. We explored the prevalence of menopausal symptoms, the relationship between symptoms and coping with work and the risk factors associated with struggling at work during the menopause. The Health and Employment After Fifty (HEAF) community-based cohort of people aged 50–64 years was incepted 2013–2014 to study health and work. In 2019, female participants were asked to complete a questionnaire about their menopausal symptoms, and effect of those symptoms on their ability to cope at work. 409 women were eligible for inclusion. The commonest symptoms were vasomotor (91.7%); trouble sleeping (68.2%); psychological (63.6%) and urinary (49.1%). The prevalence of reporting symptoms was similar no matter which type of occupation women were performing at the time. Around one-third of women reported moderate/severe difficulties coping at work because of menopausal symptoms. Risk factors for difficulties coping at work included: financial deprivation, poorer self-rated health, depression, and adverse psychosocial occupational factors but not physical demands. More awareness is needed amongst employers in all sectors but women with financial difficulties and those with jobs in which they feel insecure, unappreciated, or dissatisfied are at greatest risk.
AB - Women make up a growing proportion of the workforce and therefore many women experience menopause while in paid employment. We explored the prevalence of menopausal symptoms, the relationship between symptoms and coping with work and the risk factors associated with struggling at work during the menopause. The Health and Employment After Fifty (HEAF) community-based cohort of people aged 50–64 years was incepted 2013–2014 to study health and work. In 2019, female participants were asked to complete a questionnaire about their menopausal symptoms, and effect of those symptoms on their ability to cope at work. 409 women were eligible for inclusion. The commonest symptoms were vasomotor (91.7%); trouble sleeping (68.2%); psychological (63.6%) and urinary (49.1%). The prevalence of reporting symptoms was similar no matter which type of occupation women were performing at the time. Around one-third of women reported moderate/severe difficulties coping at work because of menopausal symptoms. Risk factors for difficulties coping at work included: financial deprivation, poorer self-rated health, depression, and adverse psychosocial occupational factors but not physical demands. More awareness is needed amongst employers in all sectors but women with financial difficulties and those with jobs in which they feel insecure, unappreciated, or dissatisfied are at greatest risk.
KW - menopause
KW - physically demanding work
KW - psychosocial work environment
KW - working women
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85145971829&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/ijerph20010295
DO - 10.3390/ijerph20010295
M3 - Article
C2 - 36612616
AN - SCOPUS:85145971829
SN - 1661-7827
VL - 20
JO - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
JF - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
IS - 1
M1 - 295
ER -
