EURO NEWS – Women missing work due to painful periods, endometriosis, fibroids, and ovarian cysts costs the UK economy £11 billion (€13 billion) a year, according to a new report that calls for more investment in women’s health services.
The report from the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) Confederation, women’s health charity CREATE Health Foundation, and consultancy London Economics, found that roughly 60,000 women in the UK are unable to work due to the impact of menopause symptoms.
Menopause is when women’s periods stop due to lower hormone levels. It typically impacts women between the ages of 45 and 55, according to the NHS.
Unemployment due to its symptoms, which include hot flushes, brain fog, muscle pains, and difficulty sleeping, costs roughly £1.5 billion (€1.8 billion) a year, the new report estimated.
The authors said that if an additional £1 (€1.19) were invested in obstetrics and gynaecology services per woman in England, the return for the economy would be an estimated £319 million (€379.2 million).
‘Compelling economic case’
The report also highlighted that local authorities with higher ethnic diversity had less access to women’s health services and those with more poverty had worse women’s health outcomes.
Dr Ranee Thakar, president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said in a statement sent to Euronews Health that the “important new report” presented a “compelling economic case for investing in women’s health” …
A study that came out in 2023 estimated that women missing work due to menopause symptoms cost the United States economy $1.8 billion a year (€1.6 billion).
That study, from the Mayo Clinic, was based on a survey of 4,440 women aged 45 to 60 who were patients there and currently working.
Using 2020 US Census data, the researchers also estimated that the medical costs related to menopause for women were $24.8 billion (€22.6 billion).
