Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant is already a source of knowledge on health topics ranging from chickenpox symptoms to how to relive a migraine.
Now Amazon has partnered with the independent website Menopause Matters to provide answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about menopause.
Alexa users in the UK can ask questions including “What treatments are available for menopause?”, “What is perimenopause?” and “What are the benefits or risks of HRT for menopause?”
The news comes amid warnings that menopausal women are often misdiagnosed depressionbecause primary care doctors don’t know all the symptoms.
Alexa users in the UK can ask questions including “What treatments are available for menopause?”, “What is perimenopause?” and “What are the risks of HRT for menopause?”
Menopause is an important life event, which marks the end of the reproductive life cycle.
About 13 million women in the UK alone are in peri or postmenopausal at any one time, according to Menopause Matters.
“Now the topic of menopause is more” normal “as a topic of conversation between individuals and is increasingly recognized as part of occupational health in the workplace, we believe it is vital that correct and accurate information is available to all concerned. ‘said Dr Heather Currie MBE, founder of Menopause Matters.
‘Over the past twenty-one years, we have helped women access the most accurate and up-to-date information available on which to inform any treatment decisions they decide to make.
“Using technologies, such as Alexa, is a great way to allow as many people as possible to access reliable information from the comfort of their own homes.”
Hot flashes, depressed mood, and difficulty sleeping are common side effects of menopause, but there are more than 30 that could indicate estrogen levels are dropping.
This happens during the transition period before menopause, known as perimenopause.
It can last up to a decade and trigger allergies, bad smells, dizziness, restless legs, loss of confidence, and panic attacks.
This can have a negative impact on quality of life, well-being and can also have a significant impact on personal relationships and work.
Many women turn to hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to relieve these symptoms.
However, rising demand and supply problems have forced many in the UK to struggle to access these drugs in recent weeks, with two in three pharmacists facing daily shortages.
Around 512,000 scripts were written in England in February, up from 265,000 in March 2017, according to the data.
Unions and activists accused the government of “bad planning” for failing to increase orders to meet demand.
But ministers blamed the global supply problems linked to Covid.
The government has now appointed a HRT “tsar” to address shortages and has revealed plans for new drug supplies from other countries.
Postmenopausal women are often misdiagnosed as having depression because family doctors don’t know all the symptoms
Amazon first partnered with the NHS in 2019 to offer health information via its Alexa voice assistant.
The service was presented as a way to relieve pressure on the NHS by helping elderly and blind patients access reliable health information.
Alexa draws information from the NHS website to answer medical questions such as, “Alexa, what are the symptoms of the flu?”
However, critics said at the time that the health service’s partnership with the tech giant could have “disastrous results” and end up putting more pressure on primary care doctors.
They warned that the device could dissuade patients from seeking adequate medical help and may fail to detect symptoms of life-threatening diseases such as sepsis.
Additionally, privacy activists said they were concerned that the scheme could allow Amazon access to patients’ confidential medical details.