Whatever most of us might have thought, menopause symptoms are far from universal. In the U.S., women complain of headaches, aching joints and fatigue. In Japan, the main symptoms are constipation and backache.

But it is women in the UK who do particularly badly, suffering everything from upset stomachs and shortness of breath to irritability and depression. a major new study published last week put British women at the top of the league for unpleasant menopausal symptoms.

Researchers quizzed 1,000 British women aged 45 to 55 and compared the results to similar groups in Japan, China, Canada and the U.S. the British women fared worse in all but one of the 15 symptoms – Chinese women beating Brits with a higher score for irritability.

Two out of three British women suffer from tiredness, while more than 50 per cent complain of hot flushes. This compares with just one in 20 Japanese women suffering from tiredness and one in eight from hot flushes.

So, what could account for these variations in experience? The controversial study, published in Climacteric, the journal of the International Menopause Society, says it is down to being an older woman in different cultures. The researchers say that only two of the 16 symptoms reported by women in the study had anything to do with the menopause – hot flushes and night sweats.

‘Only these can be classed as common menopausal symptoms internationally and clearly attributable to the menopause,’ says the study’s lead researcher, Dr volker Scheid of the Department of Integrated Health at Westminster University.

That view is backed by experts in the field. ‘This study will trigger a great deal of professional debate at a time when HRT is no longer the panacea for menopausal symptoms that it was until ten years ago,’ says David Sturdee, president of the International Menopause Society and a gynaecologist at Solihull Hospital.

‘It adds to evidence that many symptoms widely regarded as being menopausal are totally unrelated. This study tells us as much about the quality of life of older women as it does about the clinical signs of menopause.’ [Read more...]