'Menopause is not a bad word.' New bill aims to increase awareness, reduce stigma

Proposed federal legislation is bringing attention to an understudied and overlooked part of every woman's life — menopause.

U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, a Washington Democrat, introduced the Advancing Menopause Care and Mid-Life Women’s Health Act. The $275 million measure would expand federal research on menopause and women’s health, establish a national public health awareness program, and support the improvement of professional training for health care providers.

"Menopause is not a bad word. It's not something to be ashamed of," Murray said. "Menopause is something that every woman goes through. So there's no real reason that any woman should feel like she's going through it alone, or like she can't find reliable information, or the health care answers and options she needs."

But for many women that is still the reality.

Even having studied menopause and midlife women's health for years, Dr. Andrea LaCroix said she was alarmed when she first started getting hot flashes, one of the symptoms of menopause.

"I had no idea what was going on. And that's the kind of information that we rarely share with each other as women," LaCroix said. "There's just no way that people who haven't gone through menopause would understand how this feels without us talking out loud about it."

LaCroix is a distinguished professor of epidemiology at the University of California in San Diego. For 30 years, she was also involved with the Women's Health Initiative Study, a long-term study that followed thousands of women taking hormone replacement therapy.

The study was recently reevaluated in a piece published by the medical journal JAMA.

"We've learned so much from where we started," LaCroix said. "It was a trial to see if hormone therapy was useful for prevention of major chronic diseases, like heart disease, like fracture, like whether or not it might protect against certain cancers."

The study was halted after women who were taking a combination of estrogen and progestin were found to have higher risk of breast cancer and stroke.

"It was scary," LaCroix said. That fear also resulted in many women stopping hormone therapy for menopause, which LaCroix said was an unintended consequence.

"Women deserve to know the evidence, and what we've learned over the last 20 years, so that they can make an educated choice about what they want to do," she said.

LaCroix said slow movement to incorporate new information about menopause symptom treatment is part of the problem. Only 31% of surveyed OBGYNs in 2022 said they had a menopause curriculum in their residency training programs.

LaCroix also highlighted the need for earlier education on menopause and mid-life health, starting as early as middle school.

LaCroix said she's excited for the new legislation, and for women's health to be a priority.

"I think if you understand what's going on in your body, and how these symptoms might arise, what they might be, what ways there are out there to alleviate them — it can just be very empowering," she said.

LaCroix has worked with a team of doctors and university-based menopause scientists to create a website where women can find more information about menopause planning and treatment. Find out more at this link.

Correction notice, 8:58 a.m. on Wednesday, 5/8/2024: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the full budget that the Advancing Menopause Care and Mid-Life Women’s Health Act would authorize. This story has been amended to reflect the correct dollar amount.