When it comes to menopause, there’s plenty of good information out there. But there are loads of unanswered questions too. To help, a global team of experts and those with personal experience of menopause have identified the top 10 priorities for menopause research.
Menopausal hormone therapy and non-hormonal treatments are just some of the topics identified for much-needed research.
To work out the priorities, researchers, health care providers and people with experience of menopause formed the Menopause Priority Setting Partnership (MAPS). MAPS carried out 2 global surveys asking health care providers and those with personal experience to share their burning questions and concerns about menopause.
The Menopause Priority Setting Partnership was created in 2021 to identify gaps in menopause research that were important to people with experience of menopause and health care providers. The international partnership included researchers, clinicians, advocacy and policy groups and those who have navigated menopause.
Each survey attracted around 2000 responses, which MAPS narrowed down to 26 priority areas. An international group of researchers, clinicians and people with menopause experience then debated the priority areas at a workshop in Melbourne late last year.
The top 10 priorities were later announced at the 19th World Congress on Menopause in Melbourne. They also appeared in a recent issue of The Lancet, one of the world’s best medical science publications.
Dr Sarah White, CEO of Jean Hailes for Women’s Health and a member of MAPS, says it was a privilege for Jean Hailes to be invited to participate. “It was stimulating and sometimes quite challenging to have this diverse group of passionate people in the room to argue for and against the inclusion of research questions in the top 10.
“I felt a great sense of responsibility to accurately relay and represent some of the concerns and experiences that thousands of women have shared with Jean Hailes over the years, plus results from the National Women’s Health Survey. It was an amazing experience and I’m hopeful we will see these issues and questions addressed in the near future.”
MAPS researchers are now working on converting the 10 key areas into research questions and securing funding for research to answer these questions.
All reasonable steps have been taken to ensure the information created by Jean Hailes Foundation, and published on this website is accurate as at the time of its creation.
© 2025 Jean Hailes Foundation. All rights reserved. This publication may not be reproduced in whole or in part by any means without written permission of the copyright owner. Contact: licensing@jeanhailes.org.au
