Menopause

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The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has issued draft recommendations for postmenopausal hormone therapy for the primary prevention of chronic conditions, such as heart disease, stroke, dementia, hip fracture, and breast cancer.

In a highly critical re-analysis of the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) study of 2002, the results of which prompted safety fears about hormone replacement therapy (HRT) significantly increasing the risk of breast cancer, it was concluded that the weight of evidence supports benefits over risks for use of HRT in women with severe symptoms of menopause or other conditions.

Since the debate about the safety of hormone replacement therapy began, researchers, patients, and clinicians have searched for a safe alternative to help alleviate the symptoms associated with menopause. Now, a small study in Italy suggests that dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) may be a solution.

According to some sources, there are as many as 600,000 hysterectomies performed annually in the US, making it the most common nonobstetrical surgical procedure among women in the US. While the procedure itself is relatively safe, we need to ask what are the long-term effects of a hysterectomy?

One of the earliest uses of HRT was documented in an 1897 publication highlighting the use of desiccated ovarian extracts to alleviate vasomotor symptoms. As science evolved, publications emerged describing the extraction of hormones from pregnant female urine (Emmenin®) in 1934 and eventually pregnant mare urine (Premarin®) in 1937 for the therapeutic relief of menopausal symptoms.

Despite the positive effects of hormone replacement therapy for treating menopause-related issues, HRT’s association with negative adverse outcomes has cast a dark shadow on it. Now, new research out of Europe shows that HRT also increases severe asthma attacks in patients.

Osteoporosis at any age can have devastating consequences. Fortunately, a number of bone-preserving measures can go a long way toward preventing this disease--not only in postmenopausal women, but also in young women at high risk.