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.
During the past decade, research into postmenopausal osteoporosis has led to a heightened understanding of the disease process. Awareness of current diagnostic guidelines, prevention strategies, and treatment options is key to the successful management of this condition.
Researchers at the Rush Center for Clinical Studies at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center in Chicago will investigate whether the hormone replacement therapy tibolone prevents spinal fractures in osteoporotic postmenopausal women.
Osteoporosis is a degenerative bone disease that affects approximately 24 million Americans. Of these, 33 percent are postmenopausal women who have decreased bone density due to lowered estrogen levels.
Osteoporosis is a decrease in bone mass and strength causing susceptibility to fractures. It is the major cause of bone fractures in postmenopausal women and older persons in general. Osteoporosis has no clear beginning, and until recently its first visible sign was a debilitating fracture of the hip, wrist, or vertebral bodies causing pain or deformity.
In this era of constrained health-care resources, a critical need exists for efficient, measurable systems of disease management that strike a balance between social responsibility and patient welfare.
Osteoporosis is recognized as a significant contributor to morbidity and mortality in postmenopausal women. Several effective strategies, including calcium supplementation, weight-bearing exercise, and, most importantly, hormone replacement, have been developed to prevent or at least delay clinically significant bone loss.
Results of Yankelovich/University of Cincinnati Survey
Hormone Replacement Therapy in Postmenopausal Women: Urinary N-Telopeptide of Type I Collagen Monitors Therapeutic Effect and Predicts Response of Bone Mineral Density
Hyperthyroidism in postmenopausal women is associated with accelerated bone loss that results in lower BMD as detected by DEXA, SPA, QCT as well as bone markers’ levels. However, there is no data of QUS evaluation in thyrotoxic patients.
Hot flashes, hot flushes, power surges-- they go by a variety of names and are one of the most common symptoms of the perimenopause and menopause. Often a premenopausal woman will ask, "how will I know if I am having hot flashes"? This can be compared to the question a woman who has never had a baby asks, "how I will know if it's really a contraction"? If a woman is having significant hot flashes, she will not have to ask!
The benefits of using the patch for hormone replacement, with a few exceptions, are not significantly different from those when taken in a pill form. The choice should depend primarily upon the woman's preference, and for those choosing the patch there are a few small tricks for making it easier to use.
Losing your keys? Losing your patience? Losing your mind? If you are a midlife woman having difficulties, the solution may be increasing your estrogen level. More and more research studies are showing beneficial effects of hormone replacement on mental functioning. Women taking estrogen showed increased brain activation and reinstated patterns observed in younger subjects performing memory tasks, according to a recent study.
Bleeding after menopause or "postmenopausal bleeding" ("PMB") can be defined as the resumption of vaginal bleeding at least 6 months after a woman experiences her last menstrual period. This assumes of course that she is indeed menopausal ie. in her late 40's, perhaps having hot flashes and night sweats, mood swings, insomnia, perhaps experiencing some vaginal dryness.
Does hysterectomy mean a woman's sex life is ruined? Here, Paul Indman, MD, shares his take: orgasm is still in the cards for many women.
Despite the major public health impact of leiomyomas, little is known about their cause. Until recently, the steroid hormones estrogen and progesterone were considered the most important regulators of leiomyoma growth. There is abundant evidence that estrogen promotes fibroid growth including the clinical observations that fibroids grow in the presence of high levels of estrogen, such as during the reproductive years, and that they regress in the presence of low levels of estrogen, such as following menopause or during gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist therapy.
Hormone Replacement Therapy: In most European countries, the actual Guideline on the Evaluation of New Medicinal Products in the Treatment of Primary Osteoporosis is incomplete in that, unlike the previous Note for Guidance on Postmenopausal Osteoporosis in Women (EMEA 2001 Guidance), it fails to address the prevention of osteoporosis indication.
The world of menopausal care is changing. For many years, the scientific community involved in menopause research has been amassing evidence that the menopause is associated with multiple complaints and chronic diseases, and that postmenopausal hormone therapy has the potential to prevent or treat most of them.
Steroid hormones have a typical chemical structure. Their mechanism of action is through binding to a specific receptor which in the nucleus of the cell will induce effects at the genomic level.
Hormonal changes associated with menopause do not increase a woman’s risk for heart disease and heart disease mortality, according to new research published in BMJ. The work of Dr Dhananjay Vaidya, assistant professor of medicine at John Hopkins School of Medicine, and colleagues contradict the previously hypothesis that heart disease and heart attacks rise dramatically after menopause.
A new study provides a real-world snapshot of risks associated with venous thromboembolism in women receiving hormone replacement therapy, demonstrating that women who use an estradiol transdermal system may have less risk of developing thromboembolism than their counterparts who receive oral estrogen-only hormone therapy agents.
Pfizer Inc. reports that it has received a "complete response letter" from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) denying its application to approve desvenlafaxine (Pristiq) for moderate to severe vasomotor symptoms of menopause such as hot flashes.
A recent study on sleep disturbances in menopause shows a direct connection to the use of hormone therapy. Specifically, when women stop taking hormone therapy they experienced greater periods of poor sleep, waking up during the night, difficulty falling asleep, waking up to early and not feeling rested.
According to results from a new study, a popular herbal remedy may come to the rescue of women suffering from postmenopausal sleep disturbances. About half of postmenopausal women experience some degree of sleep disturbance, which in turn impacts their quality of life.