THE HISTORY OF THE TERM MENOPAUSE

The term menopause was coined in 1821 by a French physician. Prior to this the cessation of menses was not noted to be associated with any symptoms or medical concerns and there wasn't a medical term to describe it.

​

The history of menopause is fascinating. Paleodemographic data underscore an overall short human life expectancy with death occurring from acute, not chronic, conditions. Most women likely had minimal life expectancy after menopause. However a long post-reproductive lifespan appears to be an evolutionary trait of long standing, in that women who lived to menopause often lived long past menopause. There is data showing some hunter-gatherer women lived into their 80s. Hunter-gatherer octogenarians had survived tests of reproductive fitness (childbirth) and this may have served as a marker for overall fitness as well.

​

In more modern times (1850) in Massachusetts the average lifespan for a woman was 40 years due to high childhood mortality. If a woman lived to 40, her projected lifespan was then 68 years. The average lifespan of a woman now is approximately 82 years with survival not coupled to prior reproductive fitness nor ongoing biologic fitness but influenced primarily by public health measures and socioeconomic factors with a marked reduction in childhood mortality and reproductive mortality.

​

Experts disagree on the adaptive benefits of a long menopause but theories include improving outcomes for offspring with a long period of dependency or with a long menopause being a byproduct of an extended lifespan. 

​

​