Joint and muscle pain the top menopausal complaint here

It had moderate or severe impact on a third of the midlife women in two studies

- Judith Tan

Hot flushes, once thought to be the most common symptom midlife women, have knocked off their top spot.

Researchers here found that aches and pain in the muscles and joints are the top menopausal complaint among women in Singapore, affecting between 30 per cent and 40 per cent of them.

Yet, most doctors in Singapore and overseas do not recognise menopausal joint pain, often diagnosing the problem as the wear and tear of overuse or ageing.

Called arthralgia, it had moderate or severe impact on a third of the midlife women who participated in two studies conducted by the Integrated Women's Health Programme (IWHP) at the National University Hospital (NUH) and the National University of Singapore Yong Loo Lin School of Medamong been icine (NUS Medicine) in 2023.

Both studies, focused on Chinese, Malay and Indian women the three main races in Singapore were funded by the Singapore National Medical Research Council under its Senior Clinician Scientist Award given to Professor Yong Eu Leong. The amount was about $3.5 million for 2021 to 2025.

The first study, a ranking of menopausal symptoms published in October 2023 in Maturitas, an international journal that focuses on midlife and post-productive health, discovered that joint and muscular discomfort was the most reported symptom among women here.