HT treatment with estrogens alone or in combination with progestogens was associated with a small to moderate improvement in sexual function , particularly in pain , when used in women with menopausal symptoms or in early postmenopause ( within five years of amenorrhoea ) , but not in unselected postmenopausal women .
The current evidence does not suggest an important effect of tibolone or of SERMs alone or combined with estrogens on sexual function .
BACKGROUND The perimenopausal and postmenopausal periods are associated with many symptoms , including sexual complaints .
OBJECTIVES To assess the effect of hormone therapy ( HT ) on  sexual function in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women .
A randomized, open, parallel-group study on the preventive effect of an estradiol-releasing vaginal ring (Estring) on recurrent urinary tract infections in postmenopausal women.
OBJECTIVE The primary objective was to detect a difference in time until the first recurrence of urinary tract infection during treatment with an estradiol-releasing silicone vaginal ring ( Estring ; Pharmacia & Upjohn , Inc , Uppsala , Sweden ) compared with no estrogen treatment . The secondary objective was to detect any differences in improvement of urethral and vaginal mucosal atrophy and in the subjective assessment of urogenital symptoms . The study also sought to detect a difference in decrease of vaginal pH to < 5.5 and to record adverse events . STUDY DESIGN This was a multicenter , r and omized , open , parallel-group study with an untreated control group . Postmenopausal women with recurrent symptomatic , bacteriologically confirmed urinary tract infections were r and omly assigned to receive either Estring ( 2 mg estradiol ) or no estrogen treatment . One ring was carried vaginally for 12 weeks . The duration of treatment was 36 weeks for the Estring group and either 36 weeks or until the first recurrence for the control group . Both intent-to-treat and per- protocol analyses were performed to evaluate efficacy , whereas the safety analysis was limited to the intent-to-treat group . The primary variable was analyzed by survival analysis with the Kaplan-Meier method for estimating the survival density function . To compare the survival curves for the 2 treatment groups a log-rank test was performed for time until first recurrence . RESULTS A total of 108 women were r and omly assigned , 53 to the Estring group and 55 to the control group . The cumulative proportion of women remaining free of urinary tract infection was significantly higher in the Estring group than in the control group ( P = .008 ) . After 36 weeks of study the cumulative likelihood of remaining free of disease was approximately 45 % in the women with the vaginal ring compared with approximately 20 % in the control group . Estring lowered vaginal pH , and the time to first recurrence was effectively prolonged by Estring treatment . Vaginal and , to a lesser extent , urethral mucosal cells were significantly more mature in the Estring group . No unexpected adverse events were found . CONCLUSION Estring is useful to prolong the time to next recurrence among postmenopausal women with recurrent urinary tract infection and to decrease the number of recurrences per year . The silicone vaginal ring also has a clinical ly significant ability to alleviate other postmenopausal urogenital symptoms . Estring is safe and well tolerated
HT treatment with estrogens alone or in combination with progestogens was associated with a small to moderate improvement in sexual function , particularly in pain , when used in women with menopausal symptoms or in early postmenopause ( within five years of amenorrhoea ) , but not in unselected postmenopausal women .
The current evidence does not suggest an important effect of tibolone or of SERMs alone or combined with estrogens on sexual function .
BACKGROUND The perimenopausal and postmenopausal periods are associated with many symptoms , including sexual complaints .
OBJECTIVES To assess the effect of hormone therapy ( HT ) on  sexual function in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women .