Constructing Menopause on Sweden's Official Healthcare Platform: A Critical Discourse Analysis

BACKGROUND: Menopause will personally affect half the population and can cause severe symptoms and increase long-term health risks. Despite this, gaps in menopausal knowledge and unequal access to menopausal healthcare have been identified in Sweden. Limited knowledge among women undermines informed choice and delays care-seeking. To address these gaps, this study purports to critically examine how menopause is represented in Swedish digital health communication and to explore the implications for informed choice and equitable care. In Sweden, the Patient Act and national quality standards guarantee accessible, evidence-based information to support autonomy and equity. It remains unclear whether these principles are met in Sweden's primary official digital healthcare platform (1177.se). AIM: To analyse how menopause is discursively constructed on Sweden's primary official digital healthcare platform (1177.se) and to examine implications for informed choice and health equity. METHOD: Fairclough's Critical Discourse Analysis guided interpretation of 1177.se texts on menopause across three levels: text, discursive practice and social practice. Analytical rigour was upheld through reflexive practice and theoretical triangulation, achieved via continuous dialogue among the authors. RESULTS: Six intersecting discourses were identified: gendered minimisation, gatekeeping, risk-framing, neoliberal individualism, heteronormativity and intersectional exclusion. These discourses oversimplify complexity, privilege selective biomedical knowledge and moralise personal responsibility, limiting autonomy and health literacy. Such patterns contradict the principles of knowledge-based, equitable care outlined in the Swedish Patient Act and the EU Gender Equality Strategy. CONCLUSION: Menopause communication on 1177.se reflects systemic tensions between governance ideals and discursive realities. To fulfil policy mandates and advance equity, digital health communication must integrate precise terminology, multilingual access, balanced risk-benefit framing and inclusive perspectives.