Study, 2025
Do women have different symptom patterns before, during, and after menopause?
Yes. Women have different symptom patterns depending on whether they are before, during, or after menopause. All women experience fatigue, headache, anxiety, and brain fog regardless of life stage.
What they did
4789 women used an app called MenoLife to track their symptoms every day. The researchers looked at 147,501 daily reports to find which symptoms clustered together and how they differed across women at different life stages.
What they found
Before menopause, women reported cramps, breast swelling, and mood problems. After menopause, women reported hot flashes, pain, and cognitive symptoms. During the transition, women had both types. Across all life stages, women reported fatigue, headache, anxiety, and brain fog. Hot flashes did not predict other symptoms except night sweats.
What it means for you
Treatments focused only on hot flashes or PMS miss much of what women experience. Fatigue, headache, anxiety, and brain fog occur across all reproductive life stages and need treatment. The study included women using one tracking app, which may not represent all women.
4789
women studied
147,501
daily symptom logs analyzed
45
different symptoms tracked
About the study
- Original title
- Clustering of > 145,000 symptom logs reveals distinct pre, peri, and menopausal phenotypes
- Authors
- Aras SG, Grant AD, Konhilas JP
- Journal
- Scientific reports
- Year
- 2025
- Study design
- Study
- Participants
- 4,789
- What was tested
- None
- Open access
- Yes
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-84208-3
Topics
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