Menopause Data Missing in Electronic Health Records, Study Finds

A new study of nearly 240,000 women in the All of Us Research Program shows that only 12 % of electronic medical records mention menopause, despite more than half of participants reporting the transition in surveys. Researchers found that key details—age at menopause, hot flashes, sleep disturbances—are largely absent from both records and self‑reports. The gap varies by age, education, race, and income, indicating that clinicians rarely document menopause as a diagnostic code, perhaps because it is not viewed as a disease. To address this, the team is developing a brief questionnaire for clinic check‑ins and computer‑based methods to infer menopause status from existing data. Capturing this information is essential for research on heart disease, osteoporosis, and other mid‑life health risks.