DOCTORS HOPE TO DISPEL IGNORANCE ON MENOPAUSE

A recent national survey shows that many women are not aware of the long-term risks of menopause. Obstetrician-gynecologist Kenton Sizemore says he is not surprised.

The third annual Menopause Report, a compilation of the survey by Orbis Medical News, discovered that 32 percent of women between 45- and 59-years-old did not recognize menopause when it happened to them. An average of 15 months passed before these women realized their uncomfortable symptoms were due to menopause.Sizemore, who is with the Intermountain Health Care Salt Lake Clinic in Sandy, said the survey results seem to agree with what he has observed.

He and Dr. Kenneth S. Larsen, also an OB/GYN at the clinic, will answer call-in questions today during the Health Care Hotline of the Deseret News/Intermountain Health Care.

"I think for a long time, menopause has been a little bit of a taboo issue to discuss," he said. "Mothers haven't explained it to their daughters."

For many decades, the euphemism used to describe this natural event was "change of life." Many people didn't understand the physiology of menopause, or people tried to ignore the symptoms.

However, with the aging of the baby boomers, a huge number of women are nearing menopause, and the subject is starting to become a high-profile topic.

The average age of the American woman undergoing menopause is 52, "and the average life-expectancy of a woman is 76. Some women spend about a third of their lives in a post-menopausal stage," he said.

That age isn't when menopause happens to every woman. But add five years to or subtract five years from 52, and 80 to 90 percent of women will fall into that age range for the onset of menopause.

"One little clue a woman can get about the age she might start into menopause is the age of her mother when she went into menopause, and/or older sisters, because there is a genetic connection."

Menopause means literally the cessation of mensuration, the woman's monthly period, which is tied to fertility. "As they approach menopause, frequently before they actually stop their menses (periods) completely, they will go through months and sometimes years where they will occasionally miss a period or two."

Those episodes then become more frequent, and the woman may miss several in a row. In addition, she could have hot flashes, another indication of menopause.

Hormone replacement therapy is a great benefit for most who take it, he said. "My feeling is that in the vast majority of cases, hormone replacement or estrogen replacement therapy benefits far out-weigh the risks."