Impact of diabetes mellitus on the menopausal experience: A scoping review

To identify, appraise and synthesise the current evidence relating to symptoms, experiences, management and impact of menopause on QoL among women with type 1 diabetes (T1DM) or type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and to identify evidence gaps.

We conducted a scoping review guided by Arksey and O'Mally's framework by searching CINAHL, MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsychINFO and PubMed using an iterative approach to pre-specified eligibility criteria which were reviewed with increasing familiarity with the literature. Studies focusing on peri-menopausal and menopausal people assigned female at birth with a diagnosis of T1DM or T2DM were included.

In total, 16,681 records were identified from which 77 papers were subjected to full review, with 22 eligible. Research focus and methodology varied: 16 observational studies, 2 expert consensus reviews, 2 interventional studies, 1 patient and public involvement paper and 1 qualitative grounded theory paper. PRISMA-ScR guidelines were followed for transparency of reporting. Findings indicate women with diabetes experience menopausal symptoms similar to those of women without diabetes; however, they may be at risk of increased severity of symptoms, HRT use was linked to lower HbA1c levels but is largely overlooked, limited research has been undertaken exploring women's experiences and awareness of support during the menopause; existing research evidence suggests they are ill-informed and lacking effective evidence based support. There is a particular dearth of evidence relating to women with T1DM.

This review provides evidence that menopause has a negative influence upon quality of life for many women with diabetes. The impacts span managing diabetes and menopausal symptoms and seeking and receiving support. A hypothesised bidirectional relationship between diabetes and menopause may exist: whereby progression of one may be influenced by the other also resulting in a lower quality of life. While high-level evidence on this complex inter-relationship remains limited, particularly in T1DM populations, it suggests significant unmet need for those experiencing diabetes and menopause together.