The Socioeconomic Divide in Accessing Menopause Care

Socioeconomic status has an impact on accessing healthcare resources in general, but there are some specific trends linked to menopause care. Patients with lower education levels attend more GP appointments than those with higher education levels but along with people from poorer economic backgrounds they have a lower probability of accessing specialist services compared to those from more educated or affluent backgrounds.

This is consistent with data reported by gynaecologists that there is a lower level of referrals for women from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. HRT is also used more frequently and for longer periods in white women who have relatively higher education and socioeconomic status.

This appears to be at odds with research regarding symptom severity. There is a negative relationship between level of education and menopausal symptoms and homemakers experience higher menopausal symptoms in comparison to employed women.

From this we would expect a higher incidence of people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds seeking treatment for menopause as their symptoms appear more severe. There is a lack of research into why this isn’t the case and most menopause research has been conducted in high income countries with cisgender, white women.