Maturitas
Menopause is widely believed by biological anthropologists and life history theorists to have arisen early in human evolution. In this paper, I suggest that female reproductive senescence was the result of the escalating energetic cost of gestation, lactation and childcare that accompanied the continuing encephalization of early hominid offspring and the ensuing increase in infant altriciality, or...
The relationship between gynecological history and bone mineral density (BMD) of the lumbar spine and femoral neck was studied in 3126 perimenopausal women. The study population was a random, stratified sample of participants, selected from the Kuopio Osteoporosis Study, which consisted primarily of all 14 220 women aged 47-56 years in Kuopio Province in 1989. After exclusion of 1521 women reporting...
Important variations in Z-score per vertebra, which is a common expression of bone mineral density (BMD), are sometimes observed. The present study evaluates the clinical significance of this heterogeneity. Normal and osteoporotic subjects were defined by using strict criteria. For every scan, the minimal Z-score (the vertebra with the lowest Z-score) and the delta Z (highest Z-score - lowest Z-score)...
The knowledge, beliefs and experience of 60 women with HRT was studied when the women were premenopausal, and 10 years later when they were postmenopausal. Thirty-eight women had taken HRT by 1993. In 1993 women no longer considered clinics and self help groups to be the most useful sources of information about the menopause. They were more likely to think that doctors' knowledge of HRT was not...
From a longitudinal prospective study, 160 women with spontaneous menopause and without steroid medication were followed during the transition from pre- to postmenopause. After 12 years 152 women were still participating in the study. Blood samples were drawn every 6 months until 1 year after the menopause and every 12 months thereafter. Measurements of bone mineral density (BMD) on the forearm...
A report is supplied on 216 samples of cervical tissue incidentally found in 684 endometrial specimens collected during hysteroscopic examination of postmenopausal women with uterine bleeding and a recent negative Pap smear. We found 43 (19.9%) specimens including cervical tissue with some histologic sign of pathology. Twenty-five (11.6%) had histologic features suggestive for human papillomavirus...
The aim of our study was to examine the effects of hormone replacement on the size of the uterus and the development or increase of myomatas. Fifty perimenopausal women were included in the study (53.8 ± 5.0 years). Patients received a substitution therapy composed of a combination of 4 mg estradiolvalerate and 200 mg prasteronenantate (Gynodian Depot cartridges) given as a muscular injection in...
Background and Objective -- Amenorrhoea in women of reproductive age causes loss of bone mineral. This study assessed the effect of treatment of amenorrhoea on bone mineral density. Design -- Serial measurements of bone mineral density were obtained in women receiving treatment for amenorrhoea. Patients -- Eighty-five women aged 17-40 with a past or current history of amenorrhoea, from various causes,...
Premature graying of hair is associated with several endocrine disorders, vitiligo, and the aging process. Although the pathophysiology of melanin depletion in hair follicles is unknown, genetic factors regulate the expression of this trait. As acquisition of bone mass is also genetically determined, we performed an exploratory case control study of the association between premature graying of hair...
Current regimens of sequential hormone replacement therapy are based on data that show a protective effect on the endometrium of at least 10 days of progestagen. In clinical practice, onset of bleeding on or after day 11 of the progestagen phase is taken as reassurance of a normal endometrium. 413 postmenopausal women taking oestrogen-progestagen hormone replacement therapy with 10 or 12 days of...
A total of 49 (9.3%) of a consecutive series of 524 women undergoing endometrical laser ablation (ELA) were over the age of 49 years at the time of treatment. The treatment was more successful in this older age group with 60% developing amenorrhoea (compared with 29% in the whole series) and 92% expressing satisfaction with the outcome (compared with 83% in the whole series). No morbidity was encountered...
Objectives: We hypothesized that oral estrogen replacement therapy would be less common among elderly women meeting criteria for Alzheimer's disease (AD) than among nondemented elderly women. For women with AD, we hypothesized that estrogen users would perform better on a cognitive task than would nonusers. Design: A case-control study of estrogen replacement therapy, in which hierarchical procedures...
Previous studies indicated that during treatment of postmenopausal women with preparations containing norethisterone, a small proportion of the progestogen is aromatized into ethinylestradiol. We therefore investigated the serum concentrations of estradiol, ethinylestradiol and norethisterone in 25 patients of a gynecological practice who were continuously treated for climacteric complaints with...
Objective: To assess the effect of tibolone on endometrial safety, plasma estradiol concentrations, lipid metabolism and climacteric symptoms in comparison to sequential conjugated equine estrogens and medroxyprogesterone acetate in postmenopausal women. Methods: In a randomised, open-label, 6-cycle, group-comparative study, the effects on the aforementioned parameters were studied with tibolone...
Plants contain compounds with oestrogen -- like action called phytoestrogens. Soy contains daidzin, a potent phytoestrogen, and wheat flour contains less potent enterolactones. We aimed to show in 58 postmenopausal women (age 54, range 30-70 years) with at least 14 hot flushes per week, that their daily diet supplemented with soy flour (n = 28) could reduce flushes compared with wheat flour (n =...
Sexual impotence is considered to be the main symptom of the male climacteric, corresponding to the female menopause. While the female climacteric is routinely observed and treated by gynecologists, there are no adequate institutions for the treatment of the corresponding male complaints. Like ovarian secretion of estrogens, which declines and thus causes the female climacteric syndrome, the endocrine...
To investigate the role of androgens in increasing bone density and improving low libido in postmenopausal women, we have studied the long-term effects of estradiol and testosterone implants on bone mineral density and sexuality in a prospective, 2 year, single-blind randomised trial. Thirty-four postmenopausal volunteers were randomised to treatment with either estradiol implants 50 mg alone (E)...
Objective: To study the relationship between estrogen hormone replacement therapy and recall of proper names and words in cognitively intact older women. Design: A case-control study using subjects matched on age and education. Participants: From a group of 278 older (age range 55 to 93 years) community-dwelling women volunteers for memory research, 72 older women taking estrogen replacement therapy...
Fifty postmenopausal women requiring hormone replacement therapy for the treatment of climacteric symptoms were recruited in six centers. All patients received a new combined norethisterone acetate (NETA)/oestradiol (E 2 )-TTS, (Estragest TTS, Ciba-Geigy Ltd), delivering 0.25 mg NETA and 50 μg E 2 per day, continuously for 12 calendar months. Bleeding occurred in 38 (76%) of the...