Association of menopausal symptoms on work performance in midlife Latin American women

To explore the association between the severity of menopausal symptoms and work-related outcomes and performance.

This cross-sectional study involved 3,523 women aged 40-60 from 30 health care centres across 12 Latin American countries. The severity of menopausal symptoms was assessed with the Menopause Rating Scale (MRS). Work-related outcomes were surveyed, including absenteeism, medical visits, perceived reduced work performance, impact of menopause on work performance, and job loss. Comparisons employed suitable tests based on data distribution, and logistic regression was used to assess associations, adjusting for covariates such as menopausal symptoms, comorbidities, age, and education.

Women with severe menopausal symptoms (total MRS score ≥14 points) were significantly older (51.1 ± 5.1 vs 49.7 ± 5.6y), had a higher body mass index (27.4 ± 4.8 vs 26.7 ± 4.6 kg/m 2 ), were postmenopausal in a higher proportion (69.9% vs 52.2%), had more comorbidities (42.8% vs 27.6%), higher smoking prevalence, and lower educational attainment. In addition, these women significantly reported more medical leaves (42.4% vs 29.5%), more medical visits (mean: 3.9 vs 2.5 visits), and a more significant perceived reduction of work performance (82.1% vs 56.7%). They also were more likely to believe that menopause significantly reduced their work capacity (67.0% vs 24.0%), had a higher prevalence of job dismissals (6.9% vs 2.0%), and more voluntary resignations or early retirements (8.1% vs 4.7%). Binary logistic regression determined that severe menopausal symptoms, subsequently adjusted for covariates, were primarily associated with more work absenteeism (aOR: 1.64; 95% CI: 1.41-1.90), more medical visits (aOR: 2.45; 95% CI: 1.97-3.05), decreased work performance (aOR: 3.13; CI 95%: 2.65-3.69), the perception of menopause negatively impacting their work performance (aOR: 5.84; 95% CI: 5.01-6.80), more job dismissals (aOR: 3.23; 95% CI: 2.21-4.72), and more voluntary resignations or early retirements (aOR: 1.44; 95% CI: 1.08-1.93).

In this large sample of midlife Latin American women, severe menopausal symptoms were associated with reduced work capacity and adverse work-related outcomes.