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Menopause adds up to $1.8 billion in lost workdays, Mayo Clinic study shows

Coverage of aging is supported in part by AARP Arizona

Mood changes and hot flashes are common mesopause symptoms that don’t just happen at home. They happen at work, too.

Dr. Jewel Kling is the chair of the division of Women's Health Internal Medicine at Mayo Clinic. She says many of her patients experience symptoms that impair their function at work — and there’s a cost. 

A recent study by the Mayo Clinic looked at the economic impact of menopause

"So of the 4,000 women that we interviewed, many of them reported missing work days related to their menopause symptoms. And we took those numbers, and if you look at economic data, that translates to about a $1.8 billion loss annually based on those workdays lost," said Kling.

Kling wasn’t surprised.

"I think the beautiful thing about data is it can substantiate what many of us see in clinical practice, but sometimes you really need those numbers," Kling said.

Hear more on  KJZZ's Period, The End podcast, including an interview with Tamsen Fadal, an Emmy Award-winning TV journalist and a menopause advocate. Find it wherever you get your podcasts.

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KJZZ senior field correspondent Kathy Ritchie has 20 years of experience reporting and writing stories for national and local media outlets — nearly a decade of it has been spent in public media.