Symptomatic Menopause Highlighted In Evidence-Based Clinical Overview

Main Category: Menopause
Article Date: 03 Dec 2007 - 1:00 PDT

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Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics has published a supplementary series of articles focusing on symptoms during the menopausal transition and the challenging treatment issues for the women involved. The reviews are currently freely available to any clinician at http://www.future-drugs.com/r/meno.

Some 42 million American women will be aged between 45 and 64 years by 2010, and this figure will rise to 47 million in 2050. Menopause is a natural phase of female development, which is uncomplicated in most women. However, it is estimated that at least 7 million women in the USA alone will present to primary care or gynecology for help with the more distressing symptoms of menopausal transition over the intervening 40-year period.

The ten-article collection has been compiled by, and contributed to, by Dr Jeanne Leventhal Alexander, Director, Northern California Kaiser Permanente Psychiatry Women's Health Program, and Founder of the Alexander Foundation for Women's Health, a not for profit organization, http://www.afwh.org. The focus of the clinical review collection is to address the likely etiology and treatment of midlife patients who have new complaints or complain of an exacerbation of preexisting complaints in the context of their menopausal transition. The reviews highlight somatic symptoms of depression, the depression continuum and its impact on morbidity and functioning, treatment issues related to remission of depression, cognitive decline or impairment secondary to mood disorder, sleep problems in women and their impact on well-being and functioning, and attention and working memory problems in the vulnerable woman patient.

The audience for this collection spans a wide range of specialties, hence the nomenclature or disorders is carefully defined in each article/section; and summary tables of clinical points are included in selected reviews to help those unfamiliar with the material or those who are familiar but need rapid access to the information. Selected reviews also have case examples to clinically illustrate the material for those who do not practice that specialty.

Dr Leventhal Alexander commented; "The aim of this clinical review series is to examine the evidence for the diagnosis and treatment of the woman who presents with distressing symptoms that she attributes to menopause, whose actual etiology may be a psychiatric disorder, a pre- or co-existing problem such as sleep, mood, stress, or cognitive problems, or a dynamic interaction among one, or more of these, and a symptomatic menopause. Integrated multi-specialty treatment is necessary for the successful treatment of these women who have a combination of these factors, resulting in a distressing and symptomatic menopausal transition."

Dr Leventhal Alexander continued; "To achieve this integrated multi-specialty treatment approach, the editors of this series have divided it into ten separate reviews, each exploring a different aspect of the comorbid symptomatic menopausal woman's distressing complaints, their pathophysiology, diagnosis and treatment. We hope that through these articles, readers will come to appreciate the dynamic interactions of genetics (genomic polymorphisms), environment, psychiatric illness and medical comorbidity, and how they interact to affect the health of these patients in the context of a symptomatic menopausal transition."

The editors of this series are, Dr Jeanne Leventhal Alexander, who has been a psychiatrist at the Northern California Kaiser Permanente Medical Group since 1985, and has served as Director of the Northern California Kaiser Permanente Psychiatry Women's Health Program since 1995; Dr. Lorraine Dennerstein, Director and Professor , Office of Gender and Health, Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Australia; Dr. Nancy Fugate Woods who is currently the Dean of the School of Nursing, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA; and Dr. Henry Burger, is a Professor, Prince Henry's Institute of Medical Research, Monash Medical Center, Clayton, Victoria, Australia.

Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics is a monthly Medline-listed title published by Future Drugs Ltd (http://www.future-drugs.com). The Expert Review series provides healthcare practitioners and research professionals with a unique source of objective, cutting-edge information on the exciting emerging trends in healthcare.

Note: The full series of articles is available for evaluation from http://www.future-drugs.com/r/meno

About Future Science Group

Future Science Group, based in London has developed an innovative publishing portfolio to reflect post-genomic medicine. The sequencing of the human genome was a colossal milestone in the evolution of healthcare, with repercussions for all those involved in the healthcare chain. Through its imprints, Future Medicine, Future Drugs and Future Biology, the Future Science Group provides healthcare practitioners and research professionals with a unique source of objective, cutting-edge information on exciting trends emerging in the light of these advances. Our flagship title Pharmacogenomics has evolved to become a leading source of commentary and analysis from international opinion leaders. Momentum toward an individualized approach to medicine is increasing as the value of linking diagnostic and therapeutic approaches becomes ever clearer. For more information please access http://www.future-drugs.com, http://www.futuremedicine.com and http://www.future-biology.com.