Women first reported information about the menopause at age 43, when as part of the 1989 sweep, baseline data were collected on menopause, hysterectomy and HRT use. This initial information was expanded in greater detail by the Women's Health in the Middle Years study.

Postal questionnaires were sent out at ages 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, and 54 years, and a total of 1,572 women gave information on at least one of these occasions. Non-responders to the postal questionnaire who were interviewed at the home visit in 1999 completed a short questionnaire about menopause and hysterectomy that matched questions asked on the postal questionnaires. A further follow-up study took place at 57 years (N=1,387). In addition, information was collected on confinements (labour) of women study members.

In all, 1,735 women provided information on menopause and hysterectomy at one of these occasions. At 59 years those who had reported having a hysterectomy (N=374) were sent a questionnaire.

• You can obtain a list of the standard topic variables to use in an NSHD data sharing request by selecting the link below.
  

HTML version of the standard variables to view