Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) Shortages for Treating Menopause: What Can Clinicians Do to Relieve Symptoms and Concerns?

Abstract

Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is a treatment for acute climacteric syndrome, with the best effectivity. It also prevents bone loss and fractures. Ischemic heart disease prevention and cognitive function improvement have been observed with HRT, only when started early (critical window hypothesis). There is a large scale of complementary and alternative medicines for women in preference to non-hormonal treatment. Unfortunately, they do not always accompany reliable documentation of efficacy and safety from well-performed studies.