Menopause: knowledge, attitude and practice among Italian women.

Objectives: Investigating women's knowledge, attitude and practice in relation to menopause and systemic hormone therapy (HT) through a sample survey implemented within the preliminary works for the Consensus Conference "Informing women on hormone replacement therapy" that took place in Turin in May 2008 [Available at www.partecipasalute.it. Last access 7/8/2008].

Methods: The survey involved representative samples of women 45-60 years from five Italian regions. Twenty trained interviewers distributed the questionnaires reaching participants at their homes. A total of 969 women were selected from electoral rolls. 720 of them completed the interview (74.3% response rate).

Results: Participants reported positive attitudes about menopause; more than 90% believed menopause is a normal phase in women's life and more than 40% stated it is a good experience for a woman. Nevertheless, more than half of the sample did not receive any information about menopause and possible therapies, and those who did, often rated it as poor and contrasting. Moreover, clinicians who prescribed HT reported advantages (94%) much more frequently than disadvantages (22%) and risks (39%) in relation to this treatment. Lack of knowledge was associated with women's low educational level and their no or scarce attitude to attend health services.

Conclusions: More and qualified information should be provided to support women in making informed choices in relation to menopause and the use of systemic HT. Therefore, actions' should be carried out in order to strengthen the advisory role of clinicians and other sources of information, when taking care of women who may be using or thinking of using HT.