Women’s Health and Menopause Risk Reduction Strategies — Improved Quality of Health

The population structure in the world is rapidly changing, to the extent that in 75 years we will face a tripling of the elderly population. Although women are favored in terms of life expectancy, they also live with a longer period of disability (approximately twice that of aging men), as well as with the enemies of all the elderly, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and dementia. Menopause is the endocrine event that overlaps with aging, potentially worsening both the quality of life and the risks of disease in women. While the effect of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) on menopausal symptoms is generally viewed as rapid and consistent, and is thereby accepted by the scientific community, its relationship to the other aforementioned chronic conditions associated with menopause is considered variable and controversial. In analyzing these complex issues, this volume yields new and significant insights into both the study of menopause-related disorders and their treatment, by illustrating the most recent information on mechanisms of actions of new estrogen receptors and on the use of sophisticated techniques of statistical analysis for population-based studies.

An Aging Humankind: New Realities.- Menopause.- Does Menopause Increase the Risk of Coronary Heart Disease?.- Chronic Low-Grade Metabolic Acidosis in Normal Adult Humans: Pathophysiology and Consequences.- The Menopause, Sex Hormones, and Rheumatic Disease.- Estrogen-Progestrogen Action.- Novel Mechanisms of Estrogen Action.- The Action of Ovarian Steroid Hormones on Tissues and Organs.- Nongenomic Mechanisms of Sex Hormones.- Action of Specific Estrogens on Vascular Cells.- Direct Actions of Estrogen on Vascular Cells Ameliorates Response to Injury.- Newer Progestogens.- Cardiovascular Risk.- Cardiovascular Disease: Risk Factors Related to Thrombosis.- Estrogen Effect upon Coronary Vasculature.- Estrogen and Endothelial Function.- Action of Specific Estrogens on the Coronary Artery: Effects on Lipoproteins, Coagulation, and Fibrinolysis.- Coronary Heart Disease in Women: Status 1998.- Osteoporosis.- to Osteoporosis.- Genetics of Osteoporosis.- The Clinical Management of Osteoporosis.- Central Nervous System.- Menopause and Psychopharmacology: Signs, Symptoms, and Treatment.- The Brain: Target and Source for Sex Steroid Hormones.- The Role of Estrogen in Brain Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease.- Role of Estrogens in Dementing Illnesses: Hypotheses on the Biological Rationale.- Hormone Replacement Therapy.- Women’s Health and Menopause Epidemiology: The USA Experience.- Doses, Duration, and Starting Age for HRT Treatment: The American Viewpoint.- Estrogen Complexes Contained in Conjugated Equine Estrogens (CEE): An Overview of Their Structure and Possible Effects on Target Tissue.- Once a Week Transdermal Estrogen—Quality of Life Improvement in Long-Term Replacement Therapy: Newest Findings.- Estrogen-Androgen Hormone Replacement Therapy.- Management of the LateMenopause: Ultra Low-Dose Adjustive Estrogen Therapy.- Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulator (SERM) Drugs for the Prevention of Osteoporosis.- A Rationale for Hormone Replacement Therapy in Organ Transplant Patients.- Management of Ambivalence Towards Hormone Replacement Therapy.- Oncology.- Breast and Female Genital Tract Neoplasms in Overweight Women.- Postmenopausal Hormone Replacement Therapy and Gynecological Malignancies.- Hormone Replacement Therapy and Breast Cancer Risk in High-Risk Subgroups.- Breast Cancer and HRT: Collaborative Reanalysis of Data.- A Summary of the Evidence Relating Postmenopausal Hormone Use and Large Bowel Cancer Risk.- Menopausein Italy: Epidemilogical Studies and Medical Perception.- Aims, Methods, and Results of the Progetto Menopausa Italia.- Frequency of Cardiovascular Risks Factor in Women Attending Menopause Clinics: Findings from the ICARUS Data Base.- Determinants of Age at Menopause and Symptomatological Profile in Italian Women Attending Menopause Clinics in Italy.- Osteoporosis Risk Profile for Peri- and Postmenopausal Women Attending Menopause Clinics in Italy.- Menopause: What Is the Role of the General Practitioner?.- Bioethics, Menopause, and Aging: A View from the Italian Menopause Society.