Menopause can be a different experience for Black women in comparison to white women.
According to the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation (SWAN), which lasted 25 years, the first differentiation to consider is that black women reach menopause about 8.5 months earlier than white women. On top of that, they experience worse hot flashes, depression, disturbed sleep, and more.
The study also examined racial and ethnic differences, socioeconomic disadvantage, and life contexts as proxy indicators of structural racism—the lead author for SWAN, Siobán Harlow, professor emeritus at U-M’s School of Public Health, says, “Our analysis suggests that the enduring influence of structural racism—differential access to the goods, services and opportunities of society by race—is a major contributor to the health disparities between Black and white women in the midlife.”
“Drawing the information of multiple publications together helps us provide a deeper understanding and suggest new avenues for research. It forces us to reflect and reframe how we think about examining race and ethnicity,” Harlow said.
For this analysis, Harlow and colleagues set out to understand the differences between Black and white women, considering that the participants were born into and educated during the Jim Crow era.
“That framed Black women’s experience. It framed their access to education. It framed their access to health care, to housing,” Harlow said. “We looked at the body of research that SWAN has produced to better understand what we have learned overall about Black/white health disparities.”
“One aspect was to bring the full health disparity story together across the large range of health outcomes SWAN has examined. We then tried to gain a deeper understanding of the health implications of the differential life context of Black women compared to the white women and to explicitly acknowledge that these different life contexts carry different risks.”
One prominent issue most women aren’t aware of is perimenopause.
Perimenopause Symptoms Women Are Aware Of
Perimenopause is the transition period before menopause. Estrogen levels start to decrease during this stage and women begin to have menopausal symptoms. However, the perimenopause stage can last years before turning into menopause. There are five common physical changes that happen in perimenopause.
Women experience hot flashes, weight gain/slowed metabolism, vaginal dryness, night sweats, and reduced libido during perimenopause. They can also experience depression, anxiety, and trouble remembering things.
Perimenopause Symptoms Women Aren’t Aware Of
There are five other perimenopause symptoms women aren’t so aware of according to an AARP study.
Women experience some lesser known symptoms such as a burning tongue, tingling extremities, itchy skin, heart palpitations, and acne.
Black Women and Menopause
Studies have shown that black women are likely to go through early menopause if they smoke, and are most likely to report hot flashes and night sweats as their most common issues with menopause.
Often in black communities menopause is considered taboo and not talked about. Black women are not often educated by their gynecologists about perimenopause and menopause in general.
According to the SWAN study, Harlow and colleagues set out to understand the differences between Black and white women, considering that the participants were born into and educated during the Jim Crow era.
“That framed Black women’s experience. It framed their access to education. It framed their access to health care, to housing,” Harlow said. “We looked at the body of research that SWAN has produced to better understand what we have learned overall about Black/white health disparities.”
“One aspect was to bring the full health disparity story together across the large range of health outcomes SWAN has examined. We then tried to gain a deeper understanding of the health implications of the differential life context of Black women compared to the white women and to explicitly acknowledge that these different life contexts carry different risks.”
46% of Black women, compared to 37% of white women, reported experiencing vasomotor symptoms, and 27% of Black women reported clinically significant depressive symptoms, compared to 22% of white women.
They also found that Black women are 50% more likely to report hot flashes. They’re also more likely to experience depression, though less likely to report sleep problems. Black women are also more likely to have untreated hypertension due to menopause and 22% more likely to report physical limitations.