Reported risk of tests and commercial products for menopause BMJk

2025/08/21 Galarraga Aiestaran, Ana - Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Osasuna
• Medikuntza
• Etika

The British Medical Journal (BMJ) warns that hormonal tests and certain products offered on the market for menopausal and perimenopausal periods are useless and can even be dangerous. Remember that the diagnosis of menopause is clinical and confirm that the best treatment does not start with numbers, but with hearing.

The magazine explains in its editorial that experts warn that most of the services offered directly to the consumer in relation to menopause are useless and do not improve care. According to them, the symptoms are known through the clinical history, while the decisions about treatment must be guided by the clinical professional, taking into account the wishes of the patient.

Of particular concern are the hormonal tests that have been put in place over the years to evaluate the symptoms of menipause and the treatments offered based on their results, such as personalized hormonal therapies and supplements. They emphasize that neither the tests nor these therapies are implicated in scientific evidence. In fact, in women over 45 years of age, the symptoms of menopause are clinically studied and hormone tests are useless.

These personalized hormonal therapies offered in the market do not have official guarantees and have not been certified as effective and safe. Moreover, depending on the amounts of estrogen and progestin they contain, they can lead to excessive proliferation of uterine cells as well as cancer.

They believe that the routine conversion of hormonal tests may be a sign of a larger problem: the commercialization of women's health, without relying on scientific evidence. It should be noted that in the past, not only BMJ, but also The Lancet has reported a tendency to medicalize menopause and put commercial benefits above health.