Improved support and treatment for women experiencing serious physical and/or mental symptoms during menopause is the goal of innovative Monash University research.
The cutting-edge program is assessing hormone level changes, the impact of menopause, and the possible benefits of testosterone treatment for issues like muscle deterioration and early heart failure.
Professor Susan Davis, who heads the Monash University Women’s Health Research Program in the School of Public Health and Preventive medicine, is leading the four studies.
“The testosterone changes across midlife and the menopause have never been documented with accuracy or precision,” Professor Davis said. “Despite menopause affecting 51 per cent of the population, these hormone changes at menopause remain uncertain.”
Professor Davis, who developed the Practitioner’s Toolkit for Managing the Menopause, said the world-first Menopause Matters: The Australian Women’s Midlife Years (AMY) Study will provide critical information for healthcare providers and policy makers.
The project has surveyed more than 8000 women aged 40-69 about menopause, their mood and wellbeing, sexual function, and paid and unpaid work. The results will provide pivotal information about how women experience menopause today, with the goal of improving women’s health and wellbeing, but needs more funding for the work to be completed.
“The findings will have a major socioeconomic impact beyond women’s health,” Professor Davis said. “It will enable workplace policies or amendments pertaining to female workers to be formulated based on sound information, such that outdated perceptions and/or negative social attitudes about menopausal women are not reinforced.
“Ultimately, this study will improve the health and well-being of women before, during the menopause transition and beyond, and ensure that they are able to continue to contribute to the community with equity and confidence.”
Professor Davis said Australia’s demographics had also changed over the past 10 years. “For example, we have more women of non-European ancestry and women are delaying childbirth, so more women in their 40s are having children and entering menopause with young/teenage children,” she said.
“Vast numbers of women now spend well over a decade with menopause potentially impacting their work performance and engagement. Australian women constitute almost half of the paid workforce, with a greater number of mature-aged workers (>55 years) compared with the 1960s, when women accounted for only 30 per cent of the total workforce.
“Robust evidence as to how menopausal symptoms influence work performance and engagement is lacking, with the little available data limited to women in paid employment, and no data is available for women in caring and volunteer roles.”
Menopause Matters: The Australian Women’s Midlife Years (AMY) Study
AMY has surveyed 8222 women aged 40-69 nationally about their experiences of menopause symptoms, and therapies, and collected blood samples for the precise measurement of hormones by age and menopausal stage. It needs funds to fully assess the responses. This is the most comprehensive study of menopause conducted in the past decade and will fill critical knowledge gaps about menopause (symptoms, proportion affected, therapy use and impact on women with eating disorders), depression, sexual function, reproductive health and work.
The other studies, which are now recruiting, include:
Prevention of Muscle Loss After Menopause Using Testosterone: The PAMELA Study
This randomised controlled trial is evaluating whether testosterone therapy can prevent muscle and bone loss after menopause. It needs healthy postmenopausal women aged 55 to 70 years who are not using hormone replacement therapy or medications for osteoporosis. They will apply a skin cream containing an approved testosterone treatment or an identical placebo daily for six months.
Evaluating Testosterone Therapy to Prevent Early Heart Failure in Women: The ETHEL study
This study is investigating whether supplementing testosterone in postmenopausal women to levels similar to premenopausal women may prevent progression of early heart changes to heart failure. It seeks to determine if testosterone therapy will improve exercise tolerance, heart muscle appearance and function, and quality of life for women aged 55 years and older with risk factors for heart failure such as obesity, hypertension and diabetes. All participants will use an approved testosterone cream for four months and a placebo cream for four months in random order.
Preventing bone loss and restoring sexual function in women after menopause: a randomised, double blind, placebo-controlled trial
This multi-centre randomised controlled trial will evaluate whether testosterone therapy can improve libido and prevent bone loss in postmenopausal women. It needs postmenopausal women aged under 55 who are using estrogen replacement. They will apply a cream containing either testosterone or placebo every day for 12 months. This is a safe treatment approved for women.
Read more about menopause research at Monash Lens.
For more information or to donate, email womens.health@monash.edu or visit the Women’s Health Research Program recruitment page: https://www.monash.edu/medicine/sphpm/units/womenshealth/join-a-study
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