Brief Report: Under-Identification of Symptomatic Menopause in Publicly-Insured Autistic People.
Teal W Benevides, Barb Cook, Laura G Klinger and 7 others
PMID 39210156WHAT IT FOUND
Autistic women with intellectual disabilities were 28% less likely to have medical claims for menopausal symptoms than those without.
This suggests that communication barriers or provider oversight, rather than biology, may be hiding significant health needs in this group.
Key findings
01Individuals with co-occurring intellectual disability were less likely to have a symptomatic menopause claim on record.
02Autistic females experiencing symptomatic menopause were significantly more likely than those without such claims to have co-occurring ADHD, anxiety, depression, headache, altered sensory experiences, altered sexual function, and sleep disturbance.
03The rate of symptomatic menopause claims in autistic women aged 46–70 was approximately 4%, which is half the rate reported in the general population.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study relied on insurance claims, which only capture menopause symptoms if they were severe enough to require medical treatment and coded by a provider. There was no non-autistic control group, so comparisons to the general population rely on existing literature rather than direct measurement. The sample was limited to people with Medicare or Medicaid, so findings may not apply to autistic women with private insurance or no insurance. The high rate of intellectual disability in the sample (68%) reflects an older birth cohort and may not represent all autistic women.
Declared interests
Author Teal W. Benevides has unpaid advisory roles with autism organizations and paid speaking/consulting roles. Author Barb Cook has paid and unpaid roles with autism and integrative medicine groups. Other authors declared no competing interests.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that autistic women with intellectual disabilities experience fewer menopausal symptoms. The study found they had fewer medical claims for these symptoms, which likely reflects under-diagnosis or communication barriers rather than a lower biological prevalence.