Menopause remains inconsistently documented in electronic health record systems

by The North American Menopause Society

edited by Sadie Harley, reviewed by Andrew Zinin

Sadie Harley

Scientific Editor

Meet our editorial team
Behind our editorial process

Andrew Zinin

Chief Editor

Meet our editorial team
Behind our editorial process Editors' notes

This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

fact-checked

peer-reviewed publication

trusted source

proofread

The GIST Add as preferred source

More attention than ever is being paid today to midlife women's health, including the menopause transition. However, a new scoping review reveals that ongoing inconsistencies and gaps in documentation of symptoms, menopause status and reproductive stage in electronic health record (EHR) systems are preventing consistent quality care, research analysis and positive health outcomes.

Results of the scoping review are published online in Menopause in the article "Bridging the menopause data gap: a scoping review of status, symptoms, and trends in electronic health records."

Approximately 1.3 million U.S. women enter the menopause transition each year, with an estimated 1.1 billion women globally classified as postmenopausal.

Although menopause is a normal life stage, it is associated with a wide range of symptoms and long-term health consequences affecting cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, neurologic and mental health systems. Common symptoms, including hot flashes, sleep disturbances, mood changes, joint pain and genitourinary symptoms, are frequently reported but often inconsistently documented in clinical records.

Accurate classification of reproductive aging is essential for both clinical care and research. However, in routine clinical practice, menopause status and symptoms are often inferred from proxy indicators such as age ranges, diagnosis codes or medication use rather than documented through structured staging approaches.

Electronic health records offer significant potential to support longitudinal monitoring of menopause-related health, yet menopause data are frequently incomplete, inconsistently coded or embedded in unstructured clinical notes.

Several validated symptom-assessment tools exist, but these instruments are not routinely incorporated into structured EHR workflows or mapped to standardized clinical terminology. As a result, menopause-related information in EHRs may be fragmented across providers and institutions, limiting longitudinal tracking, care coordination and secondary use of clinical data for research.

A new study sought to examine how menopause status and symptoms are identified and represented in EHR-based studies and to synthesize current documentation practices, limitations and opportunities for developing standardized menopause data elements.

It concluded that menopause remains inconsistently represented in EHRs, reflecting structural documentation gaps that constrain longitudinal tracking, clinical decision-making and research reproducibility because of heterogeneity. It suggests that developing standardized menopause data elements, including structured stage and symptom documentation, will require coordinated, multidisciplinary efforts to improve data quality and support scalable menopause research. The scoping review concludes that such consistency is critical to advancing menopause care.

"The authors conclude that broader standardization and implementation of validated screening tools within EHRs can enhance clinical care by standardizing staging, informing treatment protocols, facilitating early recognition and management of symptoms, enabling assessment of treatment response, and educating patients about modifiable risk factors during a critical period in women's lives," says Dr. Monica Christmas, associate medical director for The Menopause Society.

"In addition to the clinical relevance, addressing the menopause data gap can also inform research by improving the comparability of treatments and interventions across more homogeneous populations."

Publication details

Robin R. Austin, et al. Bridging the menopause data gap: A scoping review of status, symptoms, and trends in electronic health records, Menopause (2026). DOI: 10.1097/GME.0000000000000002868

Journal information: Menopause

Key medical concepts

Electronic Health Records

Clinical categories

Obstetrics & gynecologyWomen's health Provided by The North American Menopause Society Who's behind this story?

Sadie Harley

BSc Life Sciences & Ecology. Microbiology lab background with pharmaceutical news experience in oil, gas, and renewable industries. Full profile →

Andrew Zinin

Master's in physics with research experience. Long-time science news enthusiast. Plays key role in Science X's editorial success. Full profile →

Citation: Menopause remains inconsistently documented in electronic health record systems (2026, September 2) retrieved 2 September 2026 from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-menopause-inconsistently-documented-electronic-health.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.