Drugs for the Treatment of Menopausal Symptoms
Review Drugs for the treatment of menopausal symptoms † Susan R Davis & Fiona Jane Monash University, Alfred Hospital, Central Clinical School, Women’s Health Program, 1. Introduction Commercial Road, Prahran, Victoria, Australia 2. Which menopausal symptoms Importance of the field: Over the last decade, the management of the meno- merit treatment? pause has attracted extensive public and professional debate and has become 3. Pharmacotherapy for one of the most controversial areas in clinical practice. menopausal symptoms Areas covered in this review: This review provides an overview of the field, 4. New frontiers primarily from a clinical practice perspective. However, as we have incorpo- 5. Expert opinion rated in this ‘big-picture’ snapshot of the field both conventional and comple- mentary approaches to managing the menopause, it is not an exhaustive review of the literature. What the reader will gain: By reviewing menopausal management from the perspective of practicing clinicians, we hope readers will gain insight into decision making processes appropriate for dealing with symptomatic women. Take home message: Although most women do not require pharmacother- apy for menopausal symptoms, many are severely affected by estrogen defi- ciency at and beyond menopause and, for such women, hormone therapy is important if they are to retain an acceptable quality of life. This article consid- ers the drug treatment of the symptomatic postmenopausal woman and the safety issues related to these medications. Keywords: estrogen, HRT, menopause, progestogen Expert Opin. Pharmacother. (2010) 11(8):1329-1341 For personal use only. 1. Introduction Menopause is not only associated with symptoms that range from bothersome through to extremely distressing, it is also accompanied by hormonal changes that impact adversely on several non-reproductive systems.
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