Violence against women reaches menopause up to 20 months earlier and makes symptoms more severe. A University of Granada review published on 7 June 2026 linked a heavier menopausal symptom burden and worse long-term health to a history of violence.
The review was written by Nicolás Mendoza, Loreto Mendoza-Huertas and Elsa Lopez-Salas. PubMed indexed it as Maturitas. 2026 Jun;209:108949, with an ePub date of 18 April 2026 and DOI 10.1016/j.maturitas.2026.108949. It concluded that lifetime exposure to violence is linked to more frequent and severe menopausal symptoms, poorer quality of life and significant later health risks. The report found women exposed to violence reach menopause up to 20 months earlier than women without that history.
The review linked violence with more intense hot flushes and night sweats, plus higher levels of anxiety, depression, insomnia and post-traumatic stress disorder. It also highlighted genitourinary symptoms, including vaginal dryness, pain during sex and urinary problems, particularly after sexual violence. Beyond the menopause transition itself, the same body of evidence pointed to higher rates of hypertension, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, osteoporosis and fractures, alongside memory and attention problems. The authors linked those cognitive symptoms to stress-axis disruption and neuroinflammation, while the biological pathway involved hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis dysregulation, altered autonomic and serotonergic signalling, epigenetic changes and lower estrogen levels.
In Granada’s 2024 report, 20.7% developed premature ovarian insufficiency, 75% had experienced physical violence, 57.1% sexual violence and nearly 40% all forms of violence. The review estimated at least one in four women reaching menopause has experienced violence, while the World Health Organization puts global lifetime prevalence of physical and/or sexual violence at nearly one in three women, or 32%.
NICE updated its menopause guideline on 7 November 2024, and British Menopause Society guidance calls for individualised care with patient safety prioritised. A 2025 scoping review found menopause was both a risk period for domestic abuse and a chance for clinicians to identify it. Severe, early or unusually complex perimenopause should prompt trauma-aware questions about violence history in GP surgeries and menopause clinics.