Loss of bladder control, inflammation of the bladder or vagina, and pain during intercourse because of vaginal dryness may also occur. Sometimes muscles and joints ache. Slender white women are at highest risk. Women who smoke cigarettes, drink excessive amounts of alcohol, take corticosteroids, have a low intake of calcium, or have a sedentary lifestyle are also at risk. Fractures may result from minor injuries and, in elderly women, even without an injury.
Cardiovascular disease progresses more rapidly after menopause, when estrogen levels decrease.
A woman whose ovaries have been removed, resulting in premature menopause, and who doesn't take estrogen replacement therapy is twice as likely to have cardiovascular disease as a premenopausal woman of the same age. Postmenopausal women who take estrogen have a much lower rate of cardiovascular disease than those who don't take it. For instance, among postmenopausal women who have coronary artery disease, those who take estrogen survive longer, on the average, than those who don't. These benefits may be partly explained by estrogen's favorable effects on cholesterol levels. Treatment Symptoms are treated by restoring estrogen to premenopausal levels.