The term climacteric (synonyms: climacterium; climacteric feminale; menopause, female menopause; ICD-10-GM N95.-: Climacteric disorder) defines the period, or years, of transition from sexual maturity to the cessation of ovarian hormone production. In a broader sense, it is a phase of physiological and hormonal changes in a woman’s organism that can continue in various stages from around the age of 40 to the late sixth decade of life. Although menopause is clearly defined as the time of the last menstrual period, this term is increasingly used, especially in Anglo-American literature, as the time window of the climacteric.
Classification of the climacteric:
- Premenopause – about ten to fifteen years before menopause. This period is already characterized by progesterone and estrogen deficiency.Symptoms: sterility; possible bleeding abnormalities (bleeding irregularities) and menopausal symptoms* .
- Perimenopause (= menopause or climacteric) – transitional phase between premenopause and postmenopause; varying length of years before menopause – about five years – and after menopause (1-2 years)Symptoms: (transition from fertile to infertile phase) sterility, bleeding abnormalities, menopausal symptoms.
- Menopause – time of the last menstrual period; usually between the 47th and 52nd year of life (average age in Western countries 51 years).
- Postmenopause – period that begins when menstruation has been absent for at least a year.Symptoms: frequent menopausal symptoms* .
The mean age of menopause is 51 +/- 3 years in Central Europe.
Premature menopause (climacterium praecox) is spoken of when the last bleeding occurs before the age of 40. Early menopause is when the exhaustion of reproductive ovarian function occurs between the ages of 40 and 45. Early menopause is when the ovaries stop functioning before the age of 45. Menopause occurs before the age of 40 in approximately 8% of all women.
In Germany, approximately 12-15 million women between the ages of 45-65 are menopausal.
* The average duration of moderate to severe hot flashes is about ten years. When hot flashes begin in early perimenopause, the mean duration is longer, and is then about twelve years.
