The report marks the first time a nationally representative survey of Australian women has been conducted to ask about menopause experiences.The report marks the first time a nationally representative survey of Australian women has been conducted to ask about menopause experiences.There are powerful commercial incentives to “catastrophise” menopause in the minds of Australian women to drive them to purchase products to treat it, a major study into its symptoms has found.
The report noted that while “a substantial minority of women need therapeutic interventions to alleviate menopausal symptoms,” menopause coverage in the media and public discussion was often not based on strong evidence, and overemphasised the severity and frequency of symptoms, and the impact. “But the problem is that a lot of the studies of menopause have been conducted through convenience sampling, so they ask women who have already self-identified as having an issue with menopause, and then ask those women about their experiences.
Of women of reproductive age experiencing menopause, 5% of those experiencing bothersome symptoms in the past five years attributed to menopause found it hard to do daily activities, while 3% missed days of work or study. “Unfortunately, there are powerful commercial incentives to create a ‘menopause problem’ in the minds of Australian women and Australian employers that can be ‘fixed’ by the purchase of goods and services,” the report said.
“Women are spending a lot of money on stuff that is not going to help them. The majority of over-the-counter, non-hormonal preparations have not been shown to be effective.