HRT in the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis.

Many short term studies have shown that various HRT regimens prevent bone loss at all skeletal sites and normalise biochemical markers at bone turnover. Most, if not all, evidence is derived from cohort and case-control studies. Of concern is the observation that past HRT users are not protected against hip fracture. More attention should be devoted in the future to the long term use of a low-dose combined continuous HRT regimen in late post-menopausal women in order to reduce the burden of osteoporotic fractures.