Complications of menopause and the risks and benefits of estrogen replacement therapy

Every woman who lives long enough will become menopausal. While menopause is not a disease, the increased mortality and morbidity in menopausal women due to osteoporotic fractures, cardiovascular disease, and coronary heart disease are felt by many to be related to the decrease in endogenous estrogen. Therefore, one possible solution is estrogen replacement therapy. This article reviews recent literature on the complications of menopause and the risks and benefits of estrogen replacement therapy. The article also will discuss how a nurse practitioner can utilize the theory of care seeking behavior to implement this knowledge into practice.