Metabolic consequences of the menopause

Abstract

Online health information is most often found by using a search engine. On Google, for example, the search term ‘menopause’ will produce approximately 14,000,000 sites in under a second! Although much information is available, the quality is variable. The most well established ‘kite-marking’ system is provided by the Health on the Net (HON) Foundation and sites which comply with the HON code display a quality HON label. A high ranking in search engine listings acts as a measure of quality to some extent, but users often judge quality by aspects such as speed of download, appearance, usability and inclusion or not of advertising. Menopause information that supplements the consultation can be found on general health sites (e.g. www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk, www.onmedica.net, www. doctors.net.uk, www.medscape.com), where a small amount of menopause information is found, but the user may be directed to, for example, women’s health sites (e.g. www.womens-health-concern.org, www.rcog. org.uk) as well as to more specific menopause sites, which can be categorized as follows: