Complementary/alternative and conventional medicine use amongst menopausal women:

Results from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health

There is a high prevalence of CAM use amongst Australian menopausal women.

Natural menopausal women were more likely to use yoga than surgical menopausal women.

Surgical menopausal women were more likely to use HRT than natural menopausal women.

A number of menopausal women use self-prescribed CAM and consult GPs concurrently.

Large population-based studies of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and conventional medicine use amongst menopausal women are lacking. This study helps address this gap by analysing data from a nationally representative sample of 10 011 Australian women aged 59–64 years. Overall, 39% of menopausal women consulted CAM practitioners, 75% used self-prescribed CAM, 95% consulted general practitioners (GP) and 50% consulted specialists during the previous year, and 12% were current hormone replacement therapy (HRT) users. Our findings suggest that CAM is a significant healthcare option utilized by women to treat menopausal symptoms, and so requires attention from GPs and specialists

Reference

Peng W, Adams J, Hickman L, Sibbritt DW. Complementary/alternative and conventional medicine use amongst menopausal women: Results from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health. Maturitas. 2014 Aug 18. pii: S0378-5122(14)00263-1. doi: 10.1016/j.maturitas.2014.08.002. [Epub ahead of print]

Print