Estrogen replacement therapy

Preview

Over 40 million women in the United States are postmenopausal, an estrogen-deficient state in which they will spend the remaining one third of their life. Management of the resulting physiologic changes is thus a clinical problem of major proportions. Does exogenous estrogen resolve the symptoms, and can it ward off such potential problems as osteoporosis and heart disease? Drs Beauchamp and Held discuss the indications for estrogen replacement and outline a therapeutic regimen. Following their article is a commentary by a gynecologist who points out some of the controversial points of estrogen therapy.