The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #43035

Vicki F. Meyer, PhD, InterNational Organization to Reclaim Menopause, 7421 Eleanor Circle, Sarasota, FL 34243, 941 360-2146, vickifmeyer@netscape.net

Menopause is currently being defined as an estrogen deficiency condition. Heart disease, osteoporosis, and Alzheimer’s disease are the major chronic diseases said to be due to this deficiency. Healthy midlife and older women are urged to take hormones to reduce their risk of these diseases, improve their quality of life, and increase their longevity. The best evidence, however, does not support a deficiency notion of menopause or a protective effect of hormones. There is convincing evidence, however, that menopause is a health enhancing process. If the high levels of estrogen, normal for women of reproductive age, would continue during our midlife and later years, our health would be jeopardized. Biases in the medical literature which has constructed menopause as a deficiency condition and prevented the recognition of its health enhancing benefits will be discussed.

Learning Objectives:

• Critique arguments used to support the deficiency notion of menopause.
• Identify health enhancing aspects of the lower estrogen levels universal in midlife and older women.
• Recognize biases responsible for the construction of menopause as a deficiency condition.

Related Web page: www.inorm.org

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.