Approach to: Amenorrhea

This article provides an approach to amenorrhea and is intended for pre-clinical and clerkship medical students. Primary amenorrhea refers to the absence of menarche by 15 years or 3 years post thelarche while secondary amenorrhea is the cessation of menses for 3 months in women with a previously regular cycle or for 6 months in women with previously irregular menses. While amenorrhea can be physiological it can also reflect an anatomical or more complex hormonal problem that students must learn to identify and investigate.