Has psychosocial research on the menopause any clinical relevance?

The relevance of the findings of longitudinal studies, and other types of psychosocial studies, of general population samples of climacteric women to day-to-day clinical practice is examined. It is shown that the findings of such studies can act as a useful guide to the assessment and treatment of menopausal women in a clinical setting. However, it is argued that the relevance of these studies to clinical practice could be even greater if certain clinically derived considerations were taken into account in the methodology and design of such studies, and therefore provide a more clinically relevant evidence base for the overall management of women at the time of the menopause.