TOPLINE:

Women with chronic pain earlier in life, particularly chronic widespread pain, were more likely than those without pain to experience multiple bothersome symptoms, including vasomotor symptoms, during the menopause transition.

METHODOLOGY:

• Using data from a British birth cohort study, researchers evaluated the association between chronic pain or chronic widespread pain earlier in life and classes of symptoms reported around menopause.
• They evaluated 4897 women who provided data on one or more menopausal symptoms at the age of 50 years.
• Women were classified into four groups on the basis of their menopausal symptoms: those in a low symptom burden class (26.2%), vasomotor symptom class (26.1%), psychological symptom class (23.3%), and high symptom burden class (24.4%).
• Chronic pain was evaluated at 44 years of age and was defined as pain lasting longer than 3 months; chronic widespread pain was defined as chronic contralateral upper and lower quadrant pain and spinal pain.

TAKEAWAY:

• Chronic pain at 44 years of age was associated with higher odds of being in the high symptom burden class (odds ratio [OR], 2.90; 95% CI, 2.21-3.81) and the vasomotor symptom class (OR, 1.50; 95% CI, 1.16-1.94).
• Similarly, participants with chronic widespread pain were even more likely to be in the high symptom burden class (OR, 3.50; 95% CI, 2.23-5.49) and the vasomotor symptom class (OR, 1.93; 95% CI, 1.19-3.13).

IN PRACTICE:

"Our findings suggest it is important to identify those with pre-existing CP [chronic pain] to ensure integrated and appropriate care during the perimenopause," the authors wrote.

SOURCE:

This study was led by Catherine Borra, Social Research Institute, University College London, London, England. It was published online on October 19, 2025, in Maturitas.

LIMITATIONS:

Cases of chronic pain and chronic widespread pain were assigned to menopausal symptom classes on the basis of probability rather than proper affiliation, affecting the estimated proportion of cases in each class. Whether the clustering and associations of menopausal symptoms with chronic pain persisted at different ages and menopause stages remained unclear. Vasomotor symptoms generally peaked more distinctly during the menopause transition; however, the pattern for psychological symptoms was less evident in most women.

DISCLOSURES:

This study did not receive any funding from external sources. The authors declared having no competing interests.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.