perimenopause

peri- +‎ menopause

perimenopause (uncountable)

1. The physiological stage that women approaching menopause go through when, due to hormonal changes, they progress from their usual pattern of menstruation through a phase of atypical menstruation, and finally cease menstruating. Perimenopause ends when a woman has not menstruated for a year.
   • 2009, Robert Preidt, 'Study to Assess Hormone Therapy Before Menopause', ABC News, (Mar. 23 2009):

     Researchers at eight locations across the United States plan to examine the safety and effectiveness of estrogen therapy during perimenopause, the few years just prior to menopause.

• The term has been in use since at least 1931, when it was used in Joseph Bolivar De Lee and Jacob Pearl Greenhill's book, Obstetrics: Gynecology

• climacteric

• perimenopausal

• De Lee, Joseph Bolivar, and Greenhill, Jacob Pearl, 1931, Obstetrics: Gynecology. Year Book Publishers. →ISBN
• Djordjević, Svetolik P., 2004, Dictionary of medicine: French-English with English-French glossary. Schreiber Publishers.
• Finn, Martha, and Bowyer, Lucy, 2005, Women's Health: A Core Curriculum. Elsevier: Australia. →ISBN
• Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, Accessed 6 Dec 2009.
• Preidt, Robert, 2009, 'Study to Assess Hormone Therapy Before Menopause', ABC News, Mar. 23 2009.
• Santoro, Nanette, and Goldstein, Steven R., (eds.), 2002, Textbook of perimenopausal gynecology. Informa Health Care. →ISBN