Abstract
The social weight of elderly people, in particular women, has been increasing during the last hundred years in Europe as in other industrialized regions. During this period, female life expectancy rose, whereas the mean age at menopause remained constant, and the number of children per couple decreased, leading to a reversal of the classical age pyramid. Life expectancy of a modern 50-year-old woman is approximately 30 years. In 2020, over one billion individuals will be over 60. Geriatric patients represent a high percentage of the daily consultations of a family doctor. An economically acceptable prevention of the consequences of estrogen-deficiency will be mandatory. Therefore, menopause will be one of the main issues of public health.
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© 1997 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Birkhäuser, M.H. (1997). The Problem of Menopause in Europe. In: Paoletti, R., Crosignani, P.G., Kenemans, P., Samsioe, G., Soma, M.R., Jackson, A.S. (eds) Women’s Health and Menopause. Medical Science Symposia Series, vol 11. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5560-1_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5560-1_1
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
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