Updates

This communication is not related to menopause [i]per se[/i], but refers to Ebola in women. West Africa is currently in the midst of the largest outbreak of Ebola virus disease in history. The Ebola epidemic seems to be expanding globally and is rapidly becoming a major threat. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)… Read More

Labrie [1] recently published a review describing that, while DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone, prasterone) is present in the blood during the whole life of women, the sex steroid precursor DHEA becomes the only source of sex steroids after menopause [2,3], a time when the ovaries have stopped secreting estrogens [3,4], most likely to protect the endometrium [5].… Read More

With aging, women's bodies undergo changes that can affect body image perception, yet little is known about body image in midlife. In a subset of the SWAN cohort from Chicago, the associations between body image and depressive symptoms were investigated [1]. Body image was measured using the Stunkard Adult Female Figure Rating Scale, and a… Read More

Urinary incontinence (UI) is a common and frequently overlooked problem in aging women [1,2]. Leaking urine limits daily and working activities, social interaction and sexual intimacy, and therefore severely disrupts quality of life [3]. The relationship between menopause, aging and hysterectomy is complex and still unresolved. While it is clinically appreciated that all these factors… Read More

In their recent review, Hardman and Gebbie provide a great service to colleagues who face questions on the need for contraception in the perimenopause [1]. The manuscript is very practical, giving a little background and mainly focusing on various options for contraception, and their advantages or side-effects. The authors also present an algorithm for a… Read More

The [i]American Journal of Epidemiology[/i] recently published online two studies that are based on data from the Women's Health Initiative Observational Study (WHIOS). The first one creates a platform for the upcoming national US dietary recommendations [1]. Four commonly used diet quality indices – the Healthy Eating Index 2010 (HEI), the Alternative Healthy Eating Index… Read More

From 2007 to 2010, an average of 281,406,600 medical visits occurred annually in the USA according to data from medical records of national representative visits to office-based physicians and visits to outpatient departments. The current study analyzed 63 million preventive care visits, of which 44% were visits to OB/GYNs and 56% were to primary-care doctors… Read More

Ovarian conservation at the time of hysterectomy for benign disease has certainly become more common, mainly as the result of the landmark paper of Parker and colleagues [1]. This was a focal point in the beginning of a turnaround in the thinking of many clinicians. Now a new body of work examining a portion of… Read More

Chronic pharmacologic treatments have the risk of low adherence and persistence which depend on the disease severity, preventive objectives, co-morbidity, other concurrent medications (polymedication) and adverse events. Wade and colleagues [1] reported follow-up data regarding osteoporosis medication persistence and switching at 24 months and 36 months in postmenopausal women from the cohort of the US… Read More

The average age of natural menopause is about 51 years. In the absence of hormone therapy, systemic exposures to ovarian hormones are greatly reduced after menopause, with consequences that vary by organ or tissue. Health-related effects are likely to be more pronounced after premature menopause, defined by menopause at age 40 years or younger.  … Read More