Models and practice in medicine: menopause as syndrome or life transition?

Biomedical knowledge, like scientific knowledge in general, is a product of a social and culture milieu. Moreover, in the analysis of biomedicine a distinction must be maintained between textual and clinical knowledge. Through examination of medical texts and of social science literature, the susceptibility of menopause to numerous interpretations is demonstrated. The generation of clinical models from current information available to physicians is examined and it is suggested that these can be thought of as folk models. Several current clinical models of menopause are presented and the implications for sociological analysis of the subject discussed.