A life course approach to menopause: what it is and why it is important

This talk will be delivered by Professor Rebecca Hardy, Professor of Epidemiology and Medical Statistics at Loughborough University. The talk will discuss a life course approach to menopause, what it is and why it is important.

A life course approach seeks to understand how earlier life experiences and exposures influence menopause and subsequent health, and therefore it offers potential for early intervention and prevention of menopause symptoms. In this talk we highlight how reproductive characteristics, from starting periods to menopause, are inter-related, and how health, socioeconomic position, and lifestyle in earlier life are associated with timing of menopause, menopausal symptoms, and the decision to take hormone therapy. We then outline why these prior differences between women matter in understanding the relationship between menopause and later life health.