Abstract

There are a number of estrogen hormones that decline during menopause, causing various symptoms and conditions. Estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) is a common medical therapy to treat these symptoms and conditions. The safe use of ERT has a controversial past, but more recent studies demonstrate that when appropriately prescribed, ERT can be used safely and with good efficacy. As well, there has been a better understanding in recent years of the definition and use of bioidentical estrogen.

Keywords

estrogen replacement therapy, ERT, menopause, bioidentical, bioidentical estrogen, bioidentical HRT, progesterone, Women’s Health Initiative