The Lancet: Attitudes towards menopause: time for change

17 June, 2022

Extracts below from an editorial and comment in tomorrow's Lancet.

CITATION: Editorial| volume 399, issue 10343, p2243, june 18, 2022

Attitudes towards menopause: time for change

The Lancet. Published:June 18, 2022 DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(22)01099-6

In this week's issue of The Lancet, a Comment by Zoe Schaedel and Janice Ryder [below] highlights many of the misconceptions around, and barriers to, menopause care. Stigma, embarrassment, a lack of public awareness, and miscommunication mean that for many women, menopause is either borne in quiet suffering or else over-medicalised as nothing more than a hormone deficiency requiring oestrogen replacement. Menopause is a natural part of ageing that affects 50% of the population. Yet, this fact is not reflected in many societies, and their health systems. The long-standing neglect of menopause and silence around it must change...

A joint statement from the British Menopause Society, Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, and the Society for Endocrinology released on June 10, emphasises the need to apply a holistic and individualised approach for women going through the menopause so that they can make informed decisions about treatment and care. Raising awareness and education are vital to normalise menopause and enable women to get the support they need. Health-care providers should have mandatory menopause training to ensure best practice is followed...

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CITATION: Comment| volume 399, issue 10343, p2250-2252, june 18, 2022

Menopause care and over the counter vaginal oestradiol

Zoe Schaedel, Janice Rymer

Published: May 31, 2022DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(22)00952-7

Menopause care... has been hampered by a legacy of fear of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) after the publication of the Women's Health Initiative study in 2002. This study reported increased health risks associated with HRT and was accompanied by widespread negative media coverage, followed by a decrease in HRT use worldwide. Changing this narrative has taken years and a plethora of evidence, which concludes that for most women the benefits of HRT outweigh the risks...

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Neil Pakenham-Walsh, Global Coordinator HIFA, www.hifa.org neil@hifa.org

Working in official relations with WHO