Brief Report: Under-Identification of Symptomatic Menopause in Publicly-Insured Autistic People

This publication is included in the Autistic Autism Scholarship Project. one author of this publication is identified as autistic in the project.

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Benevides, T. W., Cook, B., Klinger, L., McLean, K., Wallace, G. L., Carey, M. E., Lee, W. L., Ventimiglia, J., Schiff, L. D., & Shea, L. (2024). Brief Report: Under-Identification of Symptomatic Menopause in Publicly-Insured Autistic People. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-024-06516-x

Publication date: 29 Aug 2024 Added to AutiHub: 14 Sep 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
Publisher source (DOI) Full text OpenAlex source

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Authors

Publication authors
10
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 10 (10.0%)
  1. Teal W. Benevides
  2. Barb Cook *
  3. Laura Klinger
  4. Kiley McLean
  5. Gregory L. Wallace
  1. Meghan E. Carey
  2. Wei-Lin Lee
  3. Jonas Ventimiglia
  4. Lauren D. Schiff
  5. Lindsay Shea

Abstract

Menopause is a normal part of aging and in the general population is associated with chronic conditions that impact health, mortality, and well-being. Menopause is experienced differently by autistic individuals, although no studies have investigated this topic in a large sample. The purpose of this study was to investigate rates of, and factors associated with symptomatic menopause among autistic individuals and to identify the prevalence of co-occurring conditions in symptomatic individuals. We included autistic females aged 35-70 years enrolled for 10 + months in 2014-2016 Medicare and/or Medicaid (n = 26,904), excluding those with gender dysphoria. Those with symptomatic menopause were compared to a non-symptomatic reference group on demographic, enrollment characteristics, and co-occurring conditions through logistic regression. Approximately 4% of publicly-insured autistic females aged 46-70 years had symptomatic menopause in their medical records. Intellectual disability was associated with a lower likelihood of symptomatic menopause, and being Medicare-enrolled or dual-enrolled was associated with higher likelihood of having symptomatic menopause recorded. In adjusted models, rates of ADHD, anxiety and depressive disorders, headache/migraine, altered sensory experiences, altered sexual function, and sleep disturbance were significantly higher in the symptomatic menopause sample compared to the reference group. More work to better support autistic women in discussing menopausal symptoms and co-occurring conditions with primary care providers is needed, particularly among those for whom self-report of symptoms are more challenging to ascertain. Factors associated with specific types of health care coverage warrant greater investigation to support better identification.

Bibliography cited by this reference

Cited references are imported from external metadata sources when they are available. The list may be partial.

Cited bibliography overview

These indicators describe the bibliography cited by this publication. An author name is counted each time it appears in one cited reference, so the same person can be counted more than once. Names not yet linked to an author already present in AutiHub are treated as unknown, not as non-autistic. Last computed: 20 Sep 2026 01:01.

Cited references
30
With a DOI
27
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
3
5 / 30 (16.7%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
4 / 30 (13.3%)
References with detected author names
27 / 30 (90.0%)
Without detected author names
3
Without a structured title
3
Without a stable identifier
3
References with raw author names still to review
2
References with external metadata lookup issues
0
These indicators apply to cited references displayed on this page, after technical duplicates have been merged. A reference without a DOI can still support author statistics when a title and author names are available.
Author names detected in the cited bibliography
157
From DOI or external metadata
157
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
2
70 / 157 (44.6%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 87 / 157 (55.4%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
20 / 157 (12.7%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 20 / 70 (28.6%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 17 / 138 (12.3%).
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