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Menopause – a poorly understood stage of life

Guest Editors:
Kath Peters, PhD: Western Sydney University, Australia
Hedyeh Riazi, PhD: Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Iran

BMC Women’s Health called for submissions to our Collection on Menopause - a poorly understood stage of life. 

This Collection sought to address the knowledge gap in our understanding of menopause and its profound impact on women’s health and overall well-being. Menopause, a natural phase in a woman's life, remains a topic many women and even healthcare providers know little about, despite its significance. A better understanding of this important period is needed in order to support women during the menopause transition. Through this collection, we aimed to bring together research exploring menopause and its multifaceted effects on women's physical, mental, sexual, and emotional well-being. 

New Content ItemThis collection supports and amplifies research related to SDG 3: Good Health and Well-Being, SDG 5: Gender Equality.

Meet the Guest Editors

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Kath Peters, PhD: Western Sydney University, Australia

Professor Kath Peters is the Associate Dean (International and Engagement) in the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Western Sydney University. She has successfully led multiple funded and unfunded research projects to completion, ensuring research outcomes with over 150 publications in peer-reviewed journals. She has expertise in all aspects of qualitative research with a particular interest in feminist methodology. Her research encompasses marginalized populations and women’s sexual and reproductive health across the lifespan.


Hedyeh Riazi, PhD: Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Iran

Dr Riazi is employed at Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran, holding the title of Associate Professor in the Department of Midwifery and Reproductive Health.  She graduated with a Ph.D from the medical school of Tarbiat Modares University in Tehran. Dr Riazi’s research activity is focused on women’s sexual and reproductive health, and she supervised many PhD and MS dissertations and also published several papers and books in this field. She is an editorial board member of BMC Women’s Health, Associate Editor of Advances in Nursing & Midwifery, and Editorial board member of Payesh Journal.

About the Collection

BMC Women’s Health called for submissions to our Collection on Menopause - a poorly understood stage of life. This Collection sought to address the knowledge gap in our understanding of menopause and its profound impact on women’s health and overall well-being. 

Menopause, a natural phase in a woman's life, remains a topic many women and even healthcare providers know little about, despite its significance. A better understanding of this important period is needed in order to support women during the menopause transition. Through this collection, we aimed to bring together research exploring menopause and its multifaceted effects on women's physical, mental, sexual, and emotional well-being. 

We invited healthcare professionals and researchers from across fields including gynecology, endocrinology, mental health, nutrition, nursing, and others to contribute research on all aspects of menopause and women’s health during menopause.  Topics of interest included but are not limited to:

  • Menopause symptoms and symptom management
  • Effects of hormonal changes on women’s overall health and quality of life
  • Changes in all aspects of health during menopause, including mental, cardiovascular, cognitive, oral, and musculoskeletal health
  • Factors that affect health and well-being during menopause, including physical, psychological, and sociocultural factors
  • Correlation between menopause and the development or management of chronic diseases
  • Interventions and treatments to improve overall health and quality of life during and after menopause
  • Women’s experiences of menopause

This collection supports and amplifies research related to SDG 3: Good Health and Well-Being and, SDG 5: Gender Equality. 

Image credit: fizkes / stock.adobe.com

  1. The onset of menopause leads to diminished estrogen exposure, resulting in a high morbidity burden related to menopausal symptoms. Menopausal hormonal therapy is an effective therapy that offers more advantage...

    Authors: Tewodros Getahun Asfaw, Rahel Demissew Gebreyohannes and Milcah Temesgen Tesfaye
    Citation: BMC Women's Health 2024 24:515
    Content type: Research Published on:

  2. women post-menopause, are faced with various physical, emotional, and relational challenges. One such aspect that tends to be overlooked is the impact of menopause on sexual well-being. This study aimed to elu...

    Authors: Elnaz Haji Rafiei, Hedyeh Riazi, Jamal Shams and Hamid Alavi Majd
    Citation: BMC Women's Health 2024 24:506
    Content type: Research Published on:

  3. Menopause significantly impacts the immune system. Postmenopausal women are more susceptible to infection. Nonetheless, the pattern of change in peripheral white blood cell counts around the menopause remains ...

    Authors: Qiaoyun Dai, Yaya Zhang, Xiujuan Zhao, Xueying Yang, Huayu Sun, Shouling Wu, Shuohua Chen, Jianmei Wang, Zongfu Cao and Xu Ma
    Citation: BMC Women's Health 2024 24:504
    Content type: Research Published on:

  4. The transition to menopause is a significant event affecting health, well-being, and quality of life. Menopause typically occurs between the ages of 44–57, accompanied by symptoms such as hot flashes, mood cha...

    Authors: Emma A. Blackson, Christina McCarthy, Caryn Bell, Shokufeh Ramirez and Alessandra N. Bazzano
    Citation: BMC Women's Health 2024 24:487
    Content type: Systematic Review Published on:

  5. Women experiencing problematic menopausal symptoms report lower health-related quality of life and greater healthcare use than women without symptoms. Not all women want to or are able to take hormone replacem...

    Authors: Annemarie Money, Aylish MacKenzie, Gill Norman, Charlotte Eost-Telling, Danielle Harris, Jane McDermott and Chris Todd
    Citation: BMC Women's Health 2024 24:399
    Content type: Research Published on:

Submission Guidelines

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This Collection welcomes submission of original Research Articles. Should you wish to submit a different article type, please read our submission guidelines to confirm that type is accepted by the journal. Articles for this Collection should be submitted via our submission system, Snapp. During the submission process you will be asked whether you are submitting to a Collection, please select "Menopause - a poorly understood stage of life" from the dropdown menu.

Articles will undergo the journal’s standard peer-review process and are subject to all of the journal’s standard policies. Articles will be added to the Collection as they are published.

The Editors have no competing interests with the submissions which they handle through the peer review process. The peer review of any submissions for which the Editors have competing interests is handled by another Editorial Board Member who has no competing interests.