Current preparations of HRT: advantages and disadvantages

Women now spend 30% of their lives after the menopause in a state of profound sex-steroid deprivation. The realization of the profound changes that occur as a result of this ovarian failure, and the relatively simple treatments that are available for the condition, make it imperative that more effort should be dedicated to the study of the postmenopausal years with specialist clinics being more widely available to women. The treatment of choice for the management of menopausal symptoms and sequelae is oestrogen therapy, which should, in most cases, successfully correct this deficiency state. This hypoestrogenaemic state leads to multisystem disorders. Other treatments available only serve, at best, to manage a particular symptom without the multisystemic effect of oestrogens. In some cases serious side-effects occur that could be worse than any possible from properly managed hormone replacement.