A new national survey from GreenShield, conducted by Ipsos, has found that 33 per cent of Canadian women will wait more than two years for effective menopause support while nearly half are waiting for up to a year.
The survey of 1,000 Canadian women between the ages of 35 and 60 found these women faced multiple barriers to accessing care. “These include difficulty recognizing symptoms as part of a hormonal transition, uncertainty about where to turn for help, long wait times and having their concerns dismissed by health professionals,” GreenShield states in its announcement about the survey’s findings. “Taken together, the findings point to a system that is not designed to support women through predictable life-stage health changes.”
Only 13 per cent said their employer provided adequate hormonal health or menopause benefits. This, despite the fact that 64 per cent say menopause symptoms affect their job performance and 54 per cent said the time they spent seeking care has disrupted their work.
Common symptoms reported by survey respondents included fatigue, reported by 74 per cent, hot flashes affected 68 per cent, mood swings were reported by 65 per cent of respondents, followed by weight gain (reported by 58 per cent of respondents) and brain fog (reported by 53 per cent of respondents). Six per cent of the women surveyed say they have considered leaving their job due to symptoms.
The survey describes menopause care as “a confusing and largely self-directed care landscape” where 40 per cent say they’ve consulted a general practitioner but another 39 per cent say they don’t know where to go for help. “In effect,” they state, “most endure disruptive symptoms for extended periods before accessing treatment that meaningfully improves their quality of life.”
