Female hormones change across stages of reproductive ageing, culminating in the menopausal transition, altering physiology and anatomy and accelerating signs of ageing in the process. Unlike most clinical articles in this subject area, which generally revolve around treatment of menopausal symptoms, this article is concerned with the endocrinology of the menopausal transition, leading up to the clinical features we recognise.
Menopausal physiology was not researched as extensively as the menstrual cycle until these past 20 years. Only now do we benefit from standardised nomenclature for stages in the menopausal transition; improved knowledge of reproductive ageing physiology; and how it relates to the challenging symptoms experienced by women. The NHS website refers to menopause as ‘the cessation of menstruation following the loss of ovarian follicular activity’.1 The clinical diagnosis…
