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Menopause - Background information
Definitions
- Menopause is the time when menstruation ceases permanently due to the loss of ovarian follicular activity. It occurs with the final menstrual period and therefore can only be diagnosed with certainty after 12 months' spontaneous amenorrhoea. The average age at the menopause is 52 years in industrialized societies, such as the UK [WHO, 1996a; BMS, 2006c].
- Perimenopause is the period before the menopause when the endocrinological, biological, and clinical features of approaching menopause commence. It ends 12 months after the last menstrual period. In this guidance, the term refers to women who are experiencing symptoms due to decreasing oestrogen levels.
- Premature menopause is menopause that occurs at an age less than two standard deviations below the mean established for the reference population. In practice, in developed countries, 45 years of age is the cut-off point and in developing countries, 40 years of age is frequently used as a cut-off point. See Cause of premature menopause. In this CKS topic, 45 years of age is used as the cut-off point.
[International Menopause Society, 1999; Rees and Purdie, 2006a]
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