Grieg Foundation awards NOK 20 million for menopause research

Every year, 27,500 Norwegian women enter menopause. One third experience significant symptoms such as hot flushes, muscle and joint pain, brain fog, sleep problems, depressive symptoms, and more. At the same time, recent research shows that women are calling for more knowledge about menopause.

“There has been remarkably little research on menopause, even though we know that many women are placed on long-term sick leave and drop out of working life between the ages of 45 and 60. That research is now being done, is an important step towards strengthening women’s health and gaining more knowledge about how menopause affects women’s participation in working life and society,” says Anette Fagertun, Professor of Social Sciences at the Centre for Care Research West, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences.

Together with Inger Haukenes at the University of Bergen (UiB), who leads the project, as well as Silje Mæland and Una Ørvim Sølvik, also from UiB, Fagertun will conduct research on menopause and what it means for women’s ability to remain in the workforce.

Health problems and participation in working life

The project is called “KLAR – Women, Menopause and Working Life.” Among other things, the researchers will link data from various health registries and the national insurance registry to examine how health problems, treatment, and medication use affect labour-market participation among women aged 35 to 65.

“By studying younger women, midlife women and older women, we hope to gain knowledge about how symptoms, treatment and sickness absence change across this part of the life course, and what characterises women’s symptoms at menopausal age (45 to 55),” says project leader Inger Haukenes.

Women’s experiences with GPs and working life during menopause

The part of the project led by Anette Fagertun will examine how women experience being in menopause. The researchers will look more closely at women’s relationships with their own bodies, their relations with family and friends, and how women relate to the healthcare system and working life.

It is a major problem that women aged 45 to 60 drop out of working life due to long-term sick leave. The study will therefore also examine how general practitioners experience consultations with menopausal women, and what they see as promoting or hindering good healthcare for this group.

“We know very little about how menopause affects both sickness absence and withdrawal from working life. This has to partly do with the categories we currently use for sickness absence, but just as important is the fact that menopause is still taboo. All women go through menopause and many experience symptoms related to it, yet very little is said about it,” says Fagertun.

Will increased knowledge contribute to normalisation?

The project will also examine what significance knowledge about menopause may have for women who are in the middle of it. Many do not know, for example, that symptoms can begin several years before menstruation stops, and that symptoms can vary greatly from person to person.

“Women’s menopause is normal and necessary. It is just as natural as menstruation, pregnancy and childbirth. Unfortunately, knowledge about menopause has largely not been passed down from mothers to daughters because it has been shaped by a culture of silence: ‘This is not something we talk about.’ It is time that women’s experiences of menopause are communicated without being perceived as complaining,” says project leader Inger Haukenes.

In the research project, a group of women will receive particularly comprehensive knowledge about menopause through a knowledge platform. The aim is to investigate whether increased knowledge can help normalise and demystify the symptoms, and make women more confident in dealing with their symptoms, the healthcare system and their employers.

Spotlight on an underprioritised field

The researchers want the project to provide the Norwegian population with knowledge and a language for symptoms that may occur during menopause, and also to ensure that more people receive good treatment.

“Women’s health is underprioritised—in research, in politics and in the healthcare system. We know this from research and it is well documented in the Official Norwegian Report on women’s health published this year. We hope the project will lead to increased attention and more knowledge about women’s health in general and menopause in particular,” says Fagertun.

Grieg Foundation invests in women’s health

For the Grieg Foundation, this represents a historically large investment. The project is central to the foundation’s focus on women’s health, says Ingvild Hestad, Managing Director of the Grieg Foundation:

“We are proud of this record-breaking support for the first major research project on menopause in Norway!”

They have chosen to support this project because they believe the knowledge will be of great importance both for women and for society.

“We hope the knowledge will contribute to more precise diagnosis and treatment, and to workplace accommodation and inclusion. We also hope that the project will inspire more collaboration, funding, knowledge and focus on women’s health,” says Hestad.

In addition to HVL and UiB, NORCE, Lancaster University in the United Kingdom, and Roskilde University in Denmark are part of the collaboration. Municipalities, as well as general practitioners and gynecologists, also participate in the project.