How to improve the quality of life of menopausal women

  In a recent article published in Menopause in New York, XiangyanRuan called for more educational training opportunities for Chinese obstetricians and gynecologists on menopausal hormone therapy to improve the quality of life of women in the perimenopausal period.  In addition to relieving vasodilatory symptoms and preventing osteoporosis associated with menopause, hormone therapy can also provide many benefits, such as preventing cardiovascular disease and slowing the onset of cognitive impairment. In the endocrinology department of the Beijing Maternity Hospital of Capital Medical University, the percentage of perimenopausal and postmenopausal women using hormone therapy is about 20 percent. Unlike the dizzying array of health care products, hormone therapy has won the hearts of women for its remarkable effects, but its use is still low.  A variety of surveys have been conducted on this issue, and it is refreshing to learn about the menopausal health needs of OB/GYNs and their attitudes toward hormone therapy. 45.7% of the OB/GYNs surveyed were from general hospitals, but only 7.0% were OB/GYN endocrinologists, meaning that 90% of them did not specialize in this area.  Almost all OB/GYNs had heard of treatment of menopausal symptoms and prevention of osteoporosis, but only 26.3% knew that hormone therapy could reduce the risk of colon cancer in their patients. However, surprisingly, 39.7% of OB/GYN endocrinologists and 52.9% of OB/GYN non-endocrinologists noted that hormone therapy increases the risk of endometrial cancer.  Empirically, women in China and Germany responded well to hormone therapy, 81% of women in the UK had vasodilatory symptoms during menopause, 69.0% in Nepal, 60% in Turkey, 55.3% in Australia, etc. It is clear that women all over the world experience menopausal symptoms, but the frequency of symptoms varies from country to country. And the efforts made by domestic scholars to close the gap at home and abroad are far from enough.  The new China only mentioned hormone therapy in its guidelines for the first time in 2013, while German obstetricians and gynecologists had already made active attempts to do so two or three years earlier. In contrast to Germany, the oncology education received by OB/GYNs in China is rather limited. Compared to Western countries, less than 50% of Chinese OB/GYNs have experience with hormone therapy.  The advice of the OB/GYN plays a pivotal role for the patient during the limited clinic time. In turn, national academic groups should provide regular training courses. Obstetricians and gynecologists need to make active attempts at menopausal hormone therapy in order to better improve the quality of life of postmenopausal women in China.