To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.amjmed.2005.09.048 Byline: Valerie Montgomery Rice Keywords: Menopause; Racial and ethnic diversity Abstract: Menopause is a naturally occurring 'equal opportunity' event that every woman who lives beyond the age of approximately 52 years will experience. During the next 20 years, approximately 3.5 million African American women, 2 million Latinas, and 1 million Asian American women will enter the menopause. How a woman approaches the menopausal transition depends on a number of factors, from educational level to socioeconomic status; health-related factors, including stress; and marital status. Increasingly, the roles of race and ethnicity, as they relate to menopausal symptoms, are being explored. Understanding similarities and differences among women of color in perceptions, attitudes, and expectations surrounding the menopause can help provide culturally appropriate care and promote lifestyles that may decrease symptoms and increase quality of life. For example, minority women are usually the gatekeepers for healthcare for themselves and their families and have a highly developed social support network, often including extended family, a church community, and involvement in sororal or social organizations. In the future, research on menopausal symptoms among women of different racial/ethnic groups should focus on exploring in greater detail the effect of dietary factors and body mass index, additional evaluation of pituitary sensitivity, and use of complementary and alternative medicines in symptom management, with a better understanding of the risks and benefits of such therapies. Author Affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine, Meharry Medical College, Nashville, Tennessee, USA Article Note: (footnote) The opinions offered at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) State-of-the Science Conference on Management of Menopause-Related Symptoms and published herein are not necessarily those of the National Institute on Aging (NIA) and the Office of Medical Applications of Research (OMAR) or any of the cosponsoring institutes, offices, or centers of the NIH. Although the NIA and OMAR organized this meeting, this article is not intended as a statement of Federal guidelines or policy. Publication of the online supplement was made possible by funding from the NIA and the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine of the NIH, US Department of Health & Human Services.