Survey results - What Women Want in Menopause

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The Menopause Hub conducted online market research among Irish peri-menopausal and menopausal women. We undertook this research to find out about womens’ attitudes and behaviours towards menopause and because such little data exists in this country about this phase of a woman’s life.

I am grateful to the women in Ireland, all 1132, who completed this survey, which took place in September & October 2020. So THANK YOU!

And here are the results:

Menopause (perimenopause and post menopause) affects 50% of the global population. Today there are 571,000 women in Ireland in the 45-65-year-old menopausal age cohort (CSO, 2016 Census).  And yet …

  • 80% of women say that they are or were unprepared for menopause

  • 66% say that they knew nothing or very little about menopause beforehand

  • 79% of women rate the level of information & support for menopause in Ireland as poor/ very poor

  • Women rate the level of menopause taboo at 7 out of 10 (with 10 being completely taboo and 0 being not taboo at all)

  • Almost half of women do not feel confident talking to their GP about menopause

Loretta says that ‘she is not at all surprised at these results as she hears this from women every day at The Menopause Hub.  However, they are shockingly stark statistics that show that there is a lot of work to be done to educate and empower women to seek help and to stop suffering in silence. In addition, our healthcare system needs to step up to the plate and provide better support for women. Menopause is where mental health was about 10 years ago.’

Dr Caoimhe Hartley, Clinical Director at The Menopause Hub, says ‘here are the things I hear on a daily basis. “I feel like I am going crazy”, “I have lost my zest/ va-va-voom/ verve/ joie de vivre”, “I never realized that could be due to menopause”….”but I am still having periods, I can’t be menopausal”…  we need more research and education to prepare women for menopause”

Top 3 menopause support solutions

Women were asked what support they wanted for menopause and the following are the top 3 solutions

1.       A dedicated HSE Menopause Unit to provide information and support

2.       A public awareness campaign to educate women and society in general about menopause

3.       Menopause Information pack distributed at time of Cervical Check and Breast Check examinations

Research undertaken during Covid-19 shows that women’s menopausal symptoms are exacerbated: (research conducted online in April 2020)

  • 30% of women said their symptoms were worse during the Covid-19 pandemic, especially anxiety, insomnia and fatigue

  • 48% of women said that their relationship with their partner has been negatively impacted because of their menopause during covid-19

Phase of menopause of women who took part in the survey:

The following is the breakdown of which phase of menopause the women who responded are in : 2% are in premature menopause /8% are in Early menopause /8% are in surgical menopause /40% are in perimenopause /42% post-menopause

Symptoms

There are as many as 40 symptoms of menopause (see our Symptom Checker) which include psychological, emotional, physical, and genitourinary symptoms. https://www.themenopausehub.ie/symptom-checker

Incredibly famous are the hot flushes of menopause, but little is known or acknowledged about the psychological symptoms which include anxiety, depression, panic attacks, mood swings, anger, and rage. The mental health impact is enormous and unspoken about.

  • 80% have symptoms

  • 76% described them as moderate to severe

  • 25% described their symptoms as severe 

Google is the #1 source of information on menopause – 66% said this is where they go for information.

Source: Survey Monkey, online research Sept/Oct 2020 conducted by The Menopause Hub

Loretta Dignam