Border-region survey identifies gaps in menopause care and treatment engagement

A cross-sectional study published in Menopause assessed symptom burden, clinician engagement, and treatment use among 340 postmenopausal women receiving care from 2021 to 2024 at a tertiary care center on the US–Mexico border. Participants in the predominantly Hispanic cohort completed a bilingual survey; mean age was 55.8 years. Researchers evaluated associations using multivariable logistic or Poisson regression.

Sleep disturbances affected 73% of participants (95% CI, 68%–77%), and weight gain affected 68% (95% CI, 63%–73%). Overall, 58% (95% CI, 52%–63%) said their symptoms had never been addressed by a clinician. Participants younger than 55 had higher odds of vasomotor, sleep, and mood symptoms, while older participants were more likely to have discussed menopause with a clinician (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 1.86; 95% CI, 1.16–2.97) or used hormone therapy (aOR, 2.91; 95% CI, 1.53–5.50).

Higher education was associated with hormone therapy use and mental health treatment. Despite similar symptom prevalence, Hispanic participants had lower odds of receiving mental health treatment (aOR, 0.35; 95% CI, 0.19–0.65).

The findings highlight gaps in symptom recognition and treatment engagement and support attention to culturally and linguistically tailored menopause care. However, the cross-sectional, self-reported data cannot establish causality, and a single tertiary-center cohort may not represent other populations. The education–hormone therapy association was imprecise (aOR, 5.63; 95% CI, 1.09–29.08).