How we research

Where our facts come from

We use three kinds of sources and label each one with a letter:

A: Clinical guidelines and official statements. For example, position statements from The Menopause Society, guidelines from the Endocrine Society and ACOG, the STRAW+10 staging system, NICE (UK guidelines) and announcements from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
B: Research studies and reviews published in peer-reviewed journals.
C: Patient information from medical organizations, such as Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, the NHS and the National Institute on Aging.

Guidelines carry the most weight. A single study can add detail, but it doesn't overrule a guideline.

UK and US guidance

Most of our readers are in the US. Some of the clearest guidance on perimenopause comes from NICE in the UK, and whenever we cite it we label it "UK guidelines," because US practice can differ.

How we check each fact

Every factual claim carries a source code, like [A6], that links to the full reference at the end of the article.
Before publishing, each claim is checked against the original source. If we can't trace a claim to a source, we don't publish it.
We describe what guidelines and research say. We don't add our own medical opinions.

What we never do

Give medication doses or tell you what to take.
Diagnose, or tell you whether a treatment is right for you.
Recommend or sell supplements.
Publish ads, sponsored posts or affiliate links.

Dates on every article

Each article shows when it was published, when it was last updated, and when its sources were last checked. We recheck every article at least once a year, and sooner when a guideline it relies on changes. When we change a fact, we note what changed at the end of the article.

Corrections

If something looks wrong, unclear or out of date, email hello@itsnotjustage.com with the page and the sentence. We aim to reply within 5 business days. We check the claim against its source; if it's an error, we fix it, update the date and note the change on the page.