Targeted literature review of concepts related to women's experiences and perceptions of vasomotor symptoms associated with menopause.

Abstract

<h4>Importance and objective</h4>Vasomotor symptoms (VMS) due to menopause, consisting of hot flashes/flushes and night sweats, affect the majority of women aged 40-64 years around the world and impose a high burden on sleep, mood, concentration, energy, work, and sexual activity. Despite the high prevalence of VMS, however, diagnosis rates remain low. Although many patient-reported outcome tools can be used to assess VMS, to the best of our knowledge, few to none of these tools were designed to characterize how women experience VMS or to function as a self-assessment tool for individuals seeking diagnosis and treatment. The goal of this targeted literature review was to identify and characterize concepts relevant to individuals' experiences with and perceptions of VMS to inform the development of a culturally sensitive self-assessment tool.<h4>Methods</h4>Two searches of the existing literature were conducted: one in PubMed on key features and proximal impacts of VMS and another in Google Scholar on cultural issues and psychosocial perceptions related to menopause and VMS. Two conceptual models were developed based on the findings from these searches.<h4>Discussion and conclusion</h4>The first model highlights that, in addition to the core components of VMS, other features, such as appearing red/flushed, dizziness, and the subjective feeling of fever, and proximal impacts, such as sleep impairments, should be considered for inclusion in a self-assessment tool. The second model shows that a self-assessment tool for VMS should be linguistically and culturally sensitive to an individual's local context, which can vary within and between regions and even within and between countries in those regions. Further research is needed to better understand each area's unique histories, languages, and beliefs. Overall, current findings highlight an opportunity to develop a self-assessment tool that is both clinically relevant and culturally sensitive.