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MENOPAUSAL MYTHS
Author(s) -
Wood Carl
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1979.tb119333.x
Subject(s) - menopause , medicine , incidence (geometry) , placebo , ageing , public health , age groups , demography , gerontology , gynecology , pediatrics , alternative medicine , physics , nursing , pathology , sociology , optics
The incidence of 20 symptoms in five‐year age groups of women between 20 years of age to over 65 years of age was examined in a sample of 948 normal women who were included in the North West Region Health and Social Survey. Six symptoms increased with age, three symptoms decreased with age and the remainder showed no significant change. The symptoms women associated with the menopause were also assessed. The hypothesis was made that if the menopause led to new symptoms then the incidence in the age groups, from 45 to 49, or from 50 to 54 years of age, would be extraordinary. On this basis, no evidence for a specific menopausal syndrome was found; the only symptom women commonly attributed to the menopause was hot flushes. Review of the literature suggests that most of the beneficial effect of oestrogens, when compared to placebo, upon psychological status arises secondary to the relief of hot flushes. Any specific beneficial effect of oestrogen on the brain is either small or still unproven. All but one of a sample of undergraduate medical textbooks present views concerning the menopause which are contrary to the findings of the current study. Public education concerning the over‐all effects of ageing, both favourable and unfavourable, on the incidence of various symptoms would place the matter of the menopause in better perspective.