Anthony R. Scialli, MD, is a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at George Washington University School of Medicine and an adjunct professor of obstetrics and gynecology and of pharmacology and physiology at Georgetown University Medical Center. His presentation on menopause myths at the Physician Committee for Responsible Medicine’s 2025 International Conference on Nutrition in Medicine held August 14-16 is summarized in a Q and A session with Emma Bascom posted on Helio News. Dr. Scialli’s main message is that primary care providers can help patients by not treating menopause as a disease.
Here are two quotes from the article:
So, the first myth is that menopause is a disease, and a corollary to that is that we can treat it. We can give people hormones and that will cure the disease and will make them healthier. Both of those ideas are myths because they’re not true.
Estrogen will work for hot flashes and for vaginal dryness. . . By the way, a ton of other symptoms have been attributed in the popular press to menopause that have nothing to do with menopause; they’re simply aging, but menopause gets blamed. In any case, estrogen will work, but there are some adverse effects associated with estrogen — the most important to my patients being an increase in breast cancer diagnosis.