GoKawiilDespite 1.3 million women entering menopause each year, this stage in a woman’s life remains stigmatized and understudied. But a rise in femtech centered on menopause could help change that.
In June, Apple announced that its Health app now supports cycle tracking for both menopause — when a woman’s menstrual period permanently stops, and she can no longer get pregnant — and perimenopause, the transition to menopause. One month earlier, Oura released its Menopause Impact Scale, a self-reported questionnaire in its app that establishes how menopause symptoms impact a woman’s quality of life.
On Wednesday, Oura, maker of the Oura Ring, announced in a press release that its MIS is expanding beyond the app and into women’s health care and tech. The first 10 partners include menopause-focused clinical care companies Alloy Health, Gennev, Wisp and Pomelo; women’s health care companies Maven, Tia and Xella; and hormone and biomarker tracking companies Oova, Mira and Hertility.
“By integrating the MIS into how our partners work with patients, we’re giving women a measurement that travels with them and gives every provider they see the same starting point,” said Dorothy Kilroy, Oura’s chief commercial officer, in the press release.
How the MIS works
Developed by Oura’s own science and clinical teams, the company explains on its website that the MIS differs from current menopause assessment tools, which were created decades ago and measure only symptom frequency and severity. Instead, the MIS has Oura app users reflect on 22 symptoms associated with perimenopause and postmenopause across seven domains: sleep maintenance, cognitive functions, body image, hot flashes, sexual function and vaginal symptoms, musculoskeletal pain and urinary tract symptoms.
Both the total and domain scores can be exported as a PDF, so users can share this information with a doctor. Oura
For each symptom, a user is asked about how much it has affected their quality of life over the past two weeks. They can select: none, a little, moderately, quite a bit or extremely.
A mean score is calculated for each of the seven domains, ranging from 0 to 4, and the sum of these scores yields a total impact score from 0 to 28: 0 to 7 means minimal impact, 7 to 14 means mild impact, 14 to 20 means moderate impact and 21 to 28 means high impact.
Once the first assessment is complete, a reminder is sent 30 days later for reassessment and to monitor symptom trends over time.
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