Experts Warn Against Unnecessary Menopause Testing And Treatments

Many nonstop to user menopause services are unnecessary and do not amended care, pass experts in The BMJ today.

They reason that nan crisp emergence successful commercialized services for women seeking alleviation for menopausal symptoms raises concerns astir nan reliability and imaginable commercialized bias of nan information, and that symptoms are champion assessed by a thorough objective history pinch curen decisions guided by objective consequence and diligent preferences.

One of nan astir troubling trends arising from this surge is nan promotion of regular hormone sheet testing for nan information of menopausal symptoms, they write. These tests tin costs hundreds of dollars and are marketed to patients and clinicians arsenic basal for "individualising" hormone therapy.

Yet successful reality, these tests are of constricted objective usage because location is nary intelligibly defined therapeutic model for menopausal hormone therapy, and immoderate testing techniques do not connection meticulous aliases precise appraisal of hormone levels.

For perimenopause and menopause, hormone testing offers nary reliable measurement to find who will use from treatment, erstwhile nan last menstrual play will occur, aliases whether it is safe to discontinue contraception, they explain.

Clinical guidelines from nan British Menopause Society, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and others agree: successful women complete property 45 presenting pinch validated symptoms of menopause, including menstrual irregularity, menopause is simply a objective diagnosis, and hormone testing is unnecessary.

Despite this, galore women now coming pinch elaborate hormone panels from wellness providers aliases online services that are often utilized to warrant taking custom-made hormone preparations aliases supplements based connected marginal deviations from hormone thresholds that are not grounded successful evidence, constitute nan authors.

Such custom-made hormone preparations (known arsenic compounded hormone regimens) are not regulated successful nan aforesaid measurement arsenic modular menopausal hormone therapy and person not been tested for effectiveness and safety.

There is besides interest that inconsistencies successful nan quantities of oestrogen aliases progestogen successful compounded hormone regimens tin consequence successful abnormal compartment maturation aliases crab successful nan womb (uterus) lining, they add.

Until we tin found individualised target hormone levels, location is nary domiciled for commercialized hormonal sheet testing to guideline therapy, they argue. In nan meantime, specified testing offers only a mendacious consciousness of precision.

They admit that invention is needed but propose that nan normalisation of hormone sheet testing could beryllium a denotation of a larger problem: nan commercialisation of women's wellness and a activity distant from grounds based practice. 

For midlife women, effective curen originates not pinch numbers, but pinch listening, they conclude.