Diagnosing menopause

Menopause is officially diagnosed when a woman has gone without a menstrual period for 12 consecutive months, so your medical history is crucial to the diagnosis.

Current UK guidelines don’t require blood tests to confirm menopause in people over the age of 45 years with typical symptoms. If your doctor is concerned, there may be other conditions underlying your symptoms and they may conduct other investigations to exclude possible causes.

In people under the age of 45 years, blood tests are usually carried out to exclude other causes.These blood tests usually include:

Hormone level testing

Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and oestrogen. FSH levels are typically (but not always) high in menopause and oestradiol levels are typically low (but not always).

General health screening blood testing

These are carried out to exclude other causes for symptoms and may include Thyroid Function Tests, Vitamin D, Vitamin B12, Folate, Ferritin, Full blood count, kidney, bone and liver function, cholesterol and HbA1c or glucose levels and prolactin.

View our Blood test pricing page for more information and costs

If you are under the age of 40, you may be required to have more extensive blood tests such as antibody tests, chromosome tests, and ultrasound scans plus screening with bone scans

What is not required?

Complex tests to diagnose menopause (including urine hormone tests, over the counter tests and saliva tests) are not required or recommended by the British Menopause Society. Contrary to what you may have seen in adverts, the reason they are not recommended is not because they are expensive (although they are), it is because they have not been validated independently nor do they add any value towards making a diagnosis.