NAMS to launch free menopause mobile app

The North American Menopause Society (NAMS) is set to launch a first-ever menopause mobile app designed for use by both clinicians and patients to help manage menopausal symptoms and assess risk factors.

Among its many unique features, the new app (MenoPro) offers two modes (one for health care providers and the other for patients) and allows users to access outstanding NAMS resources and an internal cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk score calculator as well as offering the ability to email a summary of the decision-making process and information pages/handouts to the patient.

"This new app represents a major step forward for both clinicians and patients looking to make more informed health care decisions," says JoAnn Manson, MD, NAMS scientific program chair and lead author of the article being published October 15 in Menopause, the NAMS scientific journal, entitled "Algorithm and Mobile App for Menopausal Symptom Management and Hormonal/Non-hormonal Therapy Decision Making: A Clinical Decision-Support Tool from The North American Menopause Society". According to Dr. Manson, who is also a past president of NAMS, the new iPhone/iPad app is expected to revolutionize the management of menopausal symptoms and use the most recent science to help clinicians decide which patients are candidates for pharmacologic treatment and to personalize their care.

Dr. Margery Gass, the executive director of NAMS, a practicing GYN and co-author of the Menopause article, applauds the capabilities of the new app. "One of the most difficult and controversial health care decisions most women face during midlife is whether or not to use prescription medications for menopausal symptom management," says Dr. Gass. "Given the expanded array of treatment options and contradictory information available, many women feel overwhelmed. But this new app is designed to streamline the decision-making process and encourages patients to communicate and work together with their clinicians to identify a personalized treatment path."

In addition to its other features, the algorithm and MenoPro app address options for hot flashes and/or night sweats, as well as genitourinary symptoms (including vaginal dryness or pain with intercourse or other sexual activities). Convenient links provide information about lifestyle modifications that can be helpful, as well as treatment options, formulations and doses, and contraindications to therapy.

The MenoPro app, which is set to launch by late October (pending final approval from Apple), contains no advertising and was developed by NAMS without industry involvement. It will be demonstrated in its public debut at the NAMS 25th Annual Meeting in Washington, DC, which kicks off on October 15.