The menopause.

Hormone-replacement therapy for postmenopausal women has associated benefits and risks. The advantages of the administration of estrogen to postmenopausal women include preventing or reversing the atrophic changes of the genitourinary system, slowing of facial aging, relieving hot flushes and psychological symptoms, preventing atherosclerotic heart disease and retarding the development of osteoporosis. The disadvantages of the administration of estrogen to postmenopausal women include rare but serious clinical sequelae associated with the ingestion of the synthetic estrogen when it is one component of the combination oral contraceptives, increased risk of cancer developing in the estrogen-dependent organs and uterine bleeding. The benefits of long-term cyclic estrogen-gestagen therapy in preventing osteoporosis far outweigh the risks.