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Expenditures for health care are similar for male and female subjects after differences in reproductive biology and higher age-specific mortality rates among men have been accounted for.

Menopause marks the end of menstruation, once generally accepted as the closure of women's reproductive lives. The current medical view of menopause, however, is as a pathological event with its own distinct set of symptoms and diseases. Researchers have described women as facing a dramatic increase in the risk of heart disease, osteoporosis, stroke, and Alzheimer's, all as the result of the impact of changing hormone levels, particularly the decline in estrogen. The clinical literature has interpreted these findings in terms of the absolute necessity of replacing these lost hormones for all women who are menopausal regardless of any other physiological, social, or cultural characteristic they might possess. Using research done in Japan, Canada, and the United States, this paper challenges the notion of a universal menopause by showing that both the symptoms reported at menopause and the post-menopause disease profiles vary from one study population to the next. For most of the symptoms commonly associated with menopause in the medical literature, rates are much lower for Japanese women than for women in the United States and Canada, although they are comparable to rates reported from studies in Thailand and China. Mortality and morbidity data from these same societies are used to show that post-menopausal women are also not equally at risk for heart disease, breast cancer, or osteoporosis. Rather than universality, the paper suggests that it is important to think in terms of "local biologies", which reflect the very different social and physical conditions of women's lives from one society to another. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 13:494-504, 2001.

The purpose of the present paper is to review recent research on the relationship of culture and menopausal symptoms and propose a biocultural framework that makes use of both biological and cultural parameters in future research. Medline was searched for English-language articles published from 2000 to 2004 using the keyword 'menopause' in the journals--Menopause, Maturitas, Climacteric, Social Science and Medicine, Medical Anthropology Quarterly, Journal of Women's Health, Journal of the American Medical Association, American Journal of Epidemiology, Lancet and British Medical Journal, excluding articles concerning small clinical samples, surgical menopause or HRT. Additionally, references of retrieved articles and reviews were hand-searched. Although a large number of studies and publications exist, methodological differences limit attempts at comparison or systematic review. We outline a theoretical framework in which relevant biological and cultural variables can be operationalized and measured, making it possible for rigorous comparisons in the future. Several studies carried out in Japan, North America and Australia, using similar methodology but different culture/ethnic groups, indicate that differences in symptom reporting are real and highlight the importance of biocultural research. We suggest that both biological variation and cultural differences contribute to the menopausal transition, and that more rigorous data collection is required to elucidate how biology and culture interact in female ageing.

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