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Menstruation and the menopausal transition

Siobán D Harlow1, Pangaja Paramsothy

  • 1Department of Epidemiology, University of Michigan, 1415 Washington Heights, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2029, USA. harlow@umich.edu

Obstetrics and Gynecology Clinics of North America
|October 4, 2011
PubMed

This paper characterizes changes in menstrual bleeding during perimenopause,including bleeding changes that represent markers of the menopausal transition. Recent results from the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation and other cohort studies are reviewed. Emerging data describing subpopulation differences in the transition experience are highlighted. When treating women in the midlife, clinicians should pay careful attention to medical factors, including both conditions and treatments, that may increase menstrual blood loss or alter menstrual cycle characteristics sufficiently to obscure the onset of the menopausal transition or the final menstrual period.

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