Hormone Replacement Therapy

BACKGROUND: Menopause is described as the transition from the reproductive phase of a women to the non reproductive. Changes in hormone levels might lead to complaints and health consequences especially during peri- and postmenopause. Hormone therapy has a potential damaging health risk profile and is recommended for temporal limited therapy for acute vasomotor symptoms only.

BACKGROUND: Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) usage is expected to increase as women suffering from menopausal symptoms are seeking alternative therapy due to concerns from the adverse effects (AEs) associated with hormone therapy (HT). Scientific evidence for their effectiveness and safety is needed. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of CHM in the treatment of menopausal symptoms.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Despite an incidence of 1% among women under the age of 40, primary ovarian insufficiency (POI) is still poorly understood. As the variable cause and presentation of POI complicate its management, a standard regimen for treatment remains to be established. However, emerging research has provided new insight on current mainstays of treatment as well as novel management approaches and therapeutic interventions.

One of the key paradoxes in gerontology is that, despite a higher longevity, aging women experience worse health and longer disability than men. However, there is growing evidence that changes in life-style, medical interventions and systematic screening for certain diseases may substantially reduce the excess risk of major chronic conditions and disability in aging women, and therefore improve the quality of their late life.

Nothing has been demonstrated to slow or reverse the primary aging process in humans; instead, the factors that are known to affect longevity do so by their influence on disease development, which is part of secondary aging. Preventive strategies against secondary aging are aimed at maintaining health and functional capacity and rectangularizing, rather than extending, the survival curve. Interventions for preventive geriatrics and successful aging include a low-fat, low-energy diet with a high content of fruits and vegetables; exercise; and hormone replacement.

Growth hormone release and IGF-I synthesis decrease with increasing age. The regulation of the GH/IGF-I system is dependent on the integrity of the hypothalamus, pituitary and liver. During aging there are several changes which contribute to the decline in GH/IGF-I including changes in signal to the somatotrophs from growth hormone releasing hormone, somatostatin and other factors such as body composition, exercise, diet and sleep. All of these factors are discussed in detail within this review.

Apolipoprotein-?4 (APOE-?4) is a major genetic risk factor for cognitive decline, Alzheimer's disease (AD) and early mortality. An accelerated rate of biological aging could contribute to this increased risk. Here, we determined whether APOE-?4 status impacts leukocyte telomere length (TL) and the rate of cellular senescence in healthy mid-life women and, further, whether hormone replacement therapy (HT) modifies this association. Post-menopausal women (N?=?63, Mean age?=?57.7), all HT users for at least one year, were enrolled in a randomized longitudinal study.

An estimated 65% of individuals demonstrate multidomain cognitive impairment poststroke, although little is known about the varying role of cognitive risk and protective factors in preischemic, peri-ischemic, and postischemic stroke phases. Longitudinal changes in global cognitive function after ischemic stroke are not well characterized, especially in older adults over age 80.