WHY IS MENOPAUSE BECOMING A PUBLIC-HEALTH PROBLEM

Menopause is a very important public health problem for many reasons. Demographic: in 1990 there were 467 million women aged 50 years or mor e; worldwide, they will number 1200 million in 2030. Sociological: the expectation of life in the Occident for a 50-year-old woman is a furt her 33 years, thus at this point, a menopausal women is still in activ e employment. Physiological: menopause is not a disease, but gives ris e to many problems which involve the entire body. Medical: the only av ailable treatment for this phase of the woman's life is oestrogens. Th ese drugs induce many beneficial effects but the large-scale treatment of women who are not ill brings into question the harmlessness of thi s approach. Economic: the cost of medical treatment and regular review have to be considered in addition to the increased cost of pensions f or these women. Hunan: the improved quality of life observed with the medical treatment of such women could be an added dimension of the cla ssical evaluation of the benefit/risk ratio.