Menopause Research Highlights

Research, both basic and clinical, has advanced and continues to develop physicians’ understanding of menopause and menopause treatment strategies.  

The symptoms of menopause, including ending menstruation, loss of fertility, hot flashes and night sweats, and vaginal atrophy (thinning of the vaginal walls), have been recognized and documented by physicians and scientists for thousands of years. However, relatively little was understood about the underlying cause of these menopause symptoms until recently. By the early 20th century, a link between ovarian hormones and menopause was established.  

Study of the ovaries of aging women revealed that the ovary stopped functioning by about age 50 because it no longer contained functional oocytes (or eggs). It was also discovered that the major hormones produced by the ovary are estrogen and progesterone, and that the level of these hormones are reduced in women after menopause. By the 1960s, use of estrogens became a popular form of treatment for menopausal symptoms.

For the past 50 years, both the effectiveness and safety of hormone replacement therapy to relieve menopausal symptoms and promote women’s health have been researched extensively. In the 1960s and 70s, estrogen was found to have both positive and negative effects in postmenopausal women. For example, use of estrogen alone was linked to a higher risk of uterine cancer, but it also significantly improved bone density in older women.

In 1991, the Women’s Health Initiative, the largest study of its kind, was started to “address the most common causes of death, disability, and poor quality of life in postmenopausal women—cardiovascular disease, cancer, and osteoporosis.” Researchers began two clinical trials to test the effects of hormone replacement therapy on heart disease, bone fractures, breast cancer, and colon cancer. These trials were ended early because initial results suggested the risks of taking hormone therapy may outweigh the benefits. However, ongoing follow-up from these trials has resulted in continued refinement of clinical recommendations, so patients should talk to their doctors when considering hormone therapy.  

The development of safe and effective hormone replacement therapy, as well as other therapeutic strategies, to relieve menopausal symptoms while promoting health is a continuing area of intense research.  

For more information on endocrine research, see our Clinical Trials and Research page.

Author:
Jonna Frasor, PhD  

January 2009