Menopause in CKD

Most women with dialysis-dependent chronic kidney disease (CKD) stage 5 (CKD stage 5D) are in the postmenopausal age group. Early menopause is reported for all CKD stages (stages 3-5D). The traditional definition of menopause is not applicable in CKD stage 5(D) because menses can resume with hormone replacement therapy or kidney transplantation. Treatment of vasomotor symptoms continues to be the primary indication for hormone replacement therapy, with no dosing studies done specifically for CKD or kidney transplantation populations. Similarly, the risk for cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis in menopause is well described in healthy women, but the role that menopause plays in accelerating the risk further in CKD/kidney transplantation is yet to be explored. Lack of data and specific guidance on management make the long-term effects of menopause one of the most under-recognized and neglected patient problems in clinical nephrology. The efficacy and side effects of widely available therapeutic options in healthy women for menopause-related clinical manifestations, be it hormone replacement therapy for vasomotor symptoms or antiresorptive agents for osteoporosis, are to be tested in kidney transplantation and CKD populations. Longitudinal clinical trials are in need to define menopause in CKD and determine the role that CKD plays in menopause transition and menopause on CKD manifestations.