International Experts Clarify Hormonal Changes of Menopause

New report will help clinicians predict onset of menopause

Newswise — Published simultaneously today in four top-tier journals, a new report provides a framework within which physicians and researchers can systematically and consistently identify the different reproductive stages women go though from adolescence to menopause and beyond. The report, named STRAW+10, will help clinicians predict when a woman will enter menopause and guide the selection of treatment options for menopausal symptoms and other related conditions.

A panel of US and international experts met in September 2011, in Washington, DC, to review the latest scientific data on the hormonal changes that mark reproductive aging in women and to reach consensus on defining the reproductive stages in a woman’s life from pre-menopause to the late postmenopausal period. STRAW+10 represents an update to the landmark STRAW (Stages of Reproductive Aging Workshop) system put into place ten years ago that paved the way for international studies that have led to a greater understanding of reproductive aging in women.

“STRAW+10 provides a general road map to reproductive aging,” said Janet E. Hall, MD, president of The Endocrine Society. “The updates in the new report will guide future scientific studies of menopause and ultimately help predict the onset of the menopausal transition and menopause in individual women.”

The new report includes the following revisions:

• Simplified bleeding criteria for the early and late menopausal transition• Modified criteria for the late reproductive and early post-menopause stages• Recommended application of this staging system to a wider range of women without limitation by age, ethnicity, body size or lifestyle characteristics

The STRAW+10 report was published today in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, Menopause, Climacteric, and Fertility and Sterility.

The symposium was co-sponsored by The Endocrine Society, The National Institute on Aging (NIA), The Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH), as well as The North American Menopause Society (NAMS), The American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), and The International Menopause Society (IMS).