Menopause and Race

There are 34 symptoms of menopause, however, studies have revealed that the symptoms differ by ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and lifestyle factors.

Hispanic and African American women tend to go through menopause slightly earlier, whereas Asian American women tend to be slightly older when they reach menopause. African-American women are more likely to experience hot flashes or night sweats, vaginal dryness, and forgetfulness. Hispanic women were more likely to report urine leakage, vaginal dryness, heart pounding, and forgetfulness. The main problem white women say they face is battling depression.

Researchers also found that women were more likely to experience symptoms if they were older, had a lower educational level, had difficulty paying for basic needs, smoked, got less exercise than their peers, or had a high body mass index. (Body mass index is a ratio of weight to height squared that is useful for determining the degree of obesity.)

Lifestyle factors also affects symptoms. Compared with women who’ve never smoked, women who had smoked in the past were still likely to report many symptoms, including hot flashes, urine leakage, stiffness or soreness of the joints, heart pounding, and forgetfulness. Those who currently smoke at least a pack a day were more likely to report difficulty sleeping, hot flashes, urine leakage and stiffness or soreness of the joints.

It would appear that just like with everything else in life—race DOES matter even in menopause.


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