Women urged to be wary of menopause misinformation on social media

Women are being urged to seek evidence-based advice and avoid menopause misinformation shared on social media.

A seminar co-hosted by the World Health Organization (WHO) mainly examined what is known about the cognitive effects of menopause and current research in the field worldwide.

Dr Nicole Jaff, a South African academic and certified menopause practitioner, said research into menopause and its effects was now at a peak.

She said: “There’s a lot of information out there.

“But I would say please look for the evidence-based information, not for the influencers and the misinformation, but those who are giving guidelines, who are giving information.”

Jaff highlighted research into cognitive changes during menopause and how some women experience brain fog, a term for difficulties with memory, concentration and clear thinking.

She said: “I’m very excited about the non-hormonal treatments that are now available, especially for women who could never take hormone therapy because of breast cancers and various cancers, who can now take it.

“I’m extremely excited about people who are standing up for evidence-based medicine, for science, who are actually fighting back against a lot of the social media and influencers who are not giving evidence-based information and making life very difficult for women because they think they should be forever young or buying this or buying that.”

Jaff advised women and healthcare workers to read new guidelines recently issued by the International Menopause Society. They are available free to download from its website.

The seminar also heard from Professor Aimee Spector, professor of clinical psychology of ageing at University College London.

She raised similar concerns about misinformation, particularly claims linking hormone replacement therapy, known as HRT, to dementia. Some claims suggest HRT reduces dementia risk, while others suggest it increases the risk.

Spector said: “I think there’s also lots of misinformation.

“And I think that there’s huge variations in how even professionals and doctors interpret this information.”

She was part of an international research team commissioned by the WHO last year to assess published studies on the issue.

The institutions involved also included the Global Brain Health Institute at Trinity College Dublin.

Spector said: “The first thing to say is that the quality of evidence was very low.

“Nine out of the 10 studies we looked at were observational, which means that you’re observing patterns over time. But you don’t necessarily know whether that’s due to the hormone therapy or not.

“Our overall recommendation was that there’s insufficient evidence for menopause hormone therapy in terms of either increasing or reducing the risk of dementia. In other words, we don’t know either way.”

Spector said women should therefore decide whether to use HRT to treat menopause symptoms rather than based on concerns about dementia.

She said: “It’s recommended for menopause symptoms, but it’s not recommended to reduce dementia. And I think a lot of people are saying that.”

The Menopause on the Brain webinar was part of an ongoing series hosted by the WHO and other global health agencies.

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