On average, a woman will lose 10 to 15 percent of her bone mass in the first five years after menopause, but some may lose up to 50 percent. Once bone is lost, it cannot be replaced. Studies have shown there is approximately a 50 percent reduction in hip and wrist fractures in women whose estrogen replacement was begun within a few years of menopause. Reduced estrogen levels as a result of menopause may also put some women at risk for cardiovascular disease. Coronary heart disease is the main killer of American women, claiming the lives of more than 250,000 women a year.
More women die from heart disease than from all forms of cancer.
But when estrogen levels drop, the risk of harmful plaque accumulations increases and so do the risks of heart attack and stroke. In deciding whether to use HRT, all women need to first consider their personal health history, family health history and their current health status. Every woman at some stage in her life will have to face the HRT question. First, she needs to determine whether or not she's gone through perimenopause. Determining whether or not you've gone through menopause is a big problem and sometimes a bit difficult for physicians to determine, too.