Flo, the #1 women’s health app used by 75 million worldwide, has officially published results from its latest study, which was published in npj Women’s Health and co-authored by Dr. Jennifer Payne, Professor of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia,
Going by the available details, this study was designed to deliver comprehensive insights into the current understanding of perimenopause by revealing symptom patterns across 4,400 U.S. women aged 30 and older.
In case you weren’t aware, perimenopause is a time leading up to and around the menopause, a phase associated with various physical and psychological symptoms. Given the severe nature of it, many women across the board feel unprepared for this phase, as well as menopause itself..
The stated unpreparedness also comes from the fact that more than 90% of women report to have never received education about menopause in school, whereas on the other hand, an estimated 60% feel uninformed about what to expect.
This gap extends to medical training, with only 20% of OB/GYN residents reporting that their programs include a formal menopause curriculum, and 83% program directors identifying a need for added menopause educational resources. Flo’s study gets into the nitty-gritty of this very gap.
Talk about the same on a slightly deeper level, we begin from how psychological symptoms, such as anxiety, depressive mood, and irritability, were found to be highest in women aged 41-45, and lowest in those 56 and over.
Next up, Flo’s study discovered that vaginal dryness, sexual problems, and bladder problems peaked equally in women aged 51 to 55 and those 56 and over, while the same issues had their lowest prevalence in women 30 to 35.
Another detail worth a mention is rooted in a piece of detail, which revealed that vasomotor symptoms like hot flashes and excess sweating, as well as sleep problems, along with heart problems, and muscle and joint problems, peaked in women aged 51 to 55, while women aged 30 to 35 were least likely to experience them.
“These findings indicate that perimenopausal symptoms vary in different age groups. For example, mood symptoms are most prominent in early perimenopause (age 41 to 45), and vasomotor and other physical symptoms are more prominent in later perimenopause (age 51 to 55), which has not been demonstrated before,” said Dr. Jennifer Payne. “Knowing this type of progression of perimenopause-associated symptoms can help both women and their doctors know what to expect as women enter the perimenopausal portion of their lives,”
Moving on, a significant proportion of women in their 30s also reported to be experiencing symptoms that were moderate to severe, and the ones that are actually common during perimenopause and menopause, as measured by the Menopause Rating Scale (MRS).
Apart from it, over half (55.4%) of women aged 30 to 35 self-reported symptoms that met the MRS criteria for moderate or severe symptom burden. Markedly enough; 64.3% of women aged 36 to 40 would also self-report symptoms that met the MRS criteria for moderate or severe symptom burden.
“We had a significant number of women who are typically thought to be too young for perimenopause tell us that they have high levels of perimenopause-related symptoms,” said Liudmila Zhaunova, PhD, director of science at Flo. “It’s important that we keep doing research to understand better what is happening with these women so that they can get the care they need.”
Hold on, we still have a few bits left to unpack, considering we haven’t yet touched upon how a large chunk of women don’t anticipate they will experience perimenopause symptoms until the age of 503.
We also haven’t touched upon how, during the menopause years, up to 8 out of 10 women experience symptom linked to their fluctuating hormones, but few go to see a doctor.
Rounding up highlights would be a contingent of 64.3% of women aged 36-40, who were found to meet moderate or severe perimenopause symptoms. Having said so, only 8% of this age group went to see a doctor about perimenopause and most women don’t seek medical help until they hit 56 or older.
