Awareness of risk of osteoporosis may cause uncertainty and worry in menopausal women.
OBJECTIVE
A study was undertaken to explore how menopausal women are affected by awareness of potential risk of osteoporosis.


METHODS
A qualitative interview study, including analysis of in-depth interviews with 17 women who independently gave views on risk, out of 24 women interviewed about their menopausal symptoms. The women were selected on the basis of a survey including 1261 women chosen at random, to cover a broad spectrum of Danish women, their menopausal experiences, and contact with the healthcare system. The study was part of a larger project targeting menopause.


RESULTS
Awareness of osteoporosis risk caused a feeling of uncertainty and worry in some women. Only women reacting in this way seemed to act in order to prevent future fractures. The affected women were puzzled to realize that risk-reducing medication could introduce new hazards. Most of the women had heard about osteoporosis related to menopause as culturally embedded knowledge.


CONCLUSIONS
Making individual women uncertain and worried must be considered a potentially serious side effect of health promotion. The findings raise the question of whether introducing healthy people to the threat of future diseases is ethically justifiable. As hormonal treatment is no longer recommended for long-term use, it is suggested that the strong link between osteoporosis and menopause should be toned down when counselling menopausal women.
Hvas
Lotte
L
Central Research Unit and Department of General Practice, University of Copenhagen, Panum Institute, Denmark. lotte.hvas@dadlnet.dk
Reventlow
Susanne
S
Jensen
Hans L
HL
Malterud
Kirsti
K
D000368:Aged; D001294:Attitude to Health; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008593:Menopause / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D015663:Osteoporosis, Postmenopausal / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016387:Women's Health