Menopause for Medical Students

Essential menopause curriculum for medical students 
Position Statement from European Menopause and Andropause Society (EMAS)

The menopause, or the cessation of the menstrual cycle, is the result of ovarian aging and is a natural event experienced by most women in their late 40s or early 50s. With increasing longevity the menopause can now be considered to be a midlife event. Thus managing postmenopausal health is a key issue for all health professionals, not just gynaecologists.

Discussions with patients about the menopause are becoming more complex because of women's increasing longevity, the wide range of therapeutic options, the controversies regarding menopausal hormone therapy and the increasing use of alternative and complementary therapies. The published position statement provides guidance in bullet-point style on the essential issues that medical students need to know about the stages of reproductive aging, menopause terminology, menopause and postmenopausal health. Management strategies should be holistic and include diet and lifestyle, menopausal hormone therapy, non-estrogen based treatments for menopausal symptoms and osteoporosis and alternative and complementary therapies. The treatment of choice for premature menopause is menopausal hormone therapy until the average age of the natural menopause (i.e. late 40s early 50s).

These and other recommendations are presented in EMAS' position statement.

Reference 

Brockie J, Lambrinoudaki I, Ceausu I, Depypere H, Erel CT, Pérez-López FR, Schenck-Gustafsson K, van der Schouw YT, Simoncini T, Tremollieres F, Rees M. EMAS position statement: Menopause for medical students. Maturitas. 2014 Feb 19. pii: S0378-5122(14)00058-9. doi: 10.1016/j.maturitas.2014.02.007. [Epub ahead of print] 

Content updated 20 March 2014