Menopause historical perspective
Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]
Overview
Menopause is a permanent cessation of menstrual cycle in women because of deficiency of estrogen hormone and that is happens average between 40 - 50 years of age and it is considered a natural end to fertility in women.
A women is considered to reach menopause after a menstrual cycle was missed for 12 months and this is the time period that is termed as peri-menopause, she become suffering from the typical menopausal symptoms whose intensity varies from one women to another.
when a menstrual cycle is stopped for more than 12 months, a women is considered in post- menopause with persistence of the menstrual symptoms.
However, menopause exists in some other animals, many of which do not have monthly menstruation in this case, the term means a natural end to fertility.[1]
In the United States alone an estimated 6,000 women begin menopause every day which is just a small part of a projected 27,000,000 women (ages 45-64) .
Historical Perspective
- In the past, the studies on cessation of the menstrual cycle after 40 years of age in women was very rare, A French physician named the cessation of menstrual cycle as term of menopause in 1821.
- the medical interest in menopause started in mid-19th century, and therefore knew the menopause symptoms because deficiency of estrogen hormone and was treated of menopause symptoms by estrogen replacement therapy in 1970s and had been developed in 1938.
- International Menopause Society was founded in 1970s and the first international conference on menopause was organized in Paris, France in 1976.
- Overall, women in western countries viewed menopause negatively contrasted with the positive outlook of women in developing countries like India.[2]
The possible significance of menopause in human evolution
The Grandmother hypothesis considers that the menopause may have been selected for in human evolution, because later life infertility could actually have conferred an evolutionary advantage by allowing older women to spend more time helping with the survival of their existing children and grandchildren.
Menopause in other species
Unlike humans, other mammals rarely experience menopause, but it does exist in some of the other few mammal species that experience menstrual cycles, such as rhesus monkeys[3] and some cetaceans.[4]
References
- ↑ Walker ML, Herndon JG (2008). "Menopause in nonhuman primates?". Biol Reprod. 79 (3): 398–406. doi:10.1095/biolreprod.108.068536. PMC 2553520. PMID 18495681.
- ↑ Singh A, Kaur S, Walia I (2002). "A historical perspective on menopause and menopausal age". Bull Indian Inst Hist Med Hyderabad. 32 (2): 121–35. PMID 15981376.
- ↑ Walker ML (1995). "Menopause in female rhesus monkeys". Am J Primatol. 35: 59–71.
- ↑ McAuliffe K, Whitehead H (2005). "Eusociality, menopause and information in matrilineal whales". Trends Ecol Evolution. 20: 650.