Direct and Indirect Costs of Women Diagnosed With Menopause Symptoms

Objective: To quantify employee burden of those diagnosed with menopause symptoms. Methods: This regression-based study analyzed 2001-to-2010 medical, pharmacy, sick leave, disability, workers' compensation, and productivity data of large US employers. A cohort of employed women with diagnosed menopause symptoms (DMS), aged more than 40 years, were identified using medical claims International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification codes 627.xx. Control employees were propensity matched on age, employer, plan enrollment length, and enrollment end date. Results: The study included 17,322 in each cohort. Employees with DMS had significantly higher medical ($4315 vs $2972, P < 0.001), pharmacy ($136 vs $908, P < 0.001), sick leave costs ($647 vs $599, P < 0.001), and sick leave days (3.57 vs 3.30, P < 0.001). Employees with DMS had 12.2% (P = 0.007) lower hourly productivity and 10.9% (P = 0.014) lower annual productivity than controls. Conclusions: Although all women experience menopause, women with DMS have significantly higher utilization and productivity burdens.