Estrogen's Effects on the Female Body

What is estrogen?

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Estrogen is a group of hormones that play an important role in the normal sexual and reproductive development in women. They are also called sex hormones. The woman's ovaries produce most estrogen hormones, although the adrenal glands also produce small amounts of the hormones.

In addition to regulating the menstrual cycle, estrogen affects the reproductive tract, the urinary tract, the heart and blood vessels, bones, breasts, skin, hair, mucous membranes, pelvic muscles, and the brain. Secondary sexual characteristics, such as pubic and armpit hair also begin to grow when estrogen levels rise. Many organ systems, including the musculoskeletal and cardiovascular systems, and the brain are affected by estrogen.

Controversy over hormone replacement therapy:

Estrogen replacement therapy (ERT), the use of estrogen to supplement that which is no longer being produced by the body, and hormone replacement therapy (HRT), in which estrogen and progestin (a synthetic progesterone) are used in combination, have been the subject of great controversy over the years. And, because there is a risk versus benefit ratio in the supplementation or replacement of these hormones, the debate still continues. In addition, the high doses of estrogen therapy given when ERT began being used 50 years ago, gave hormone replacement therapy a bad reputation.

Today, the debate still continues and the choice to continue HRT if a woman has already started or to start HRT as a woman enters perimenopause and menopause is more controversial than ever. During the summer of 2002, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) halted a major clinical trial of the risks and benefits of combined estrogen and progestin in healthy menopausal women, due to findings of an increased risk of invasive breast cancer among its participants. The trial also found increases in risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, and pulmonary embolism. The study was scheduled to run until 2005.

The National Women’s Health Information Center (NWHIC), Office of Women’s Health, US Department of Health and Human Services, in response, offers the following suggestions for women who are currently taking hormone replacement therapy:

• The most important thing a woman can do in deciding to continue hormone replacement therapy is discuss the current research with her physician and healthcare team.
  
  
• Women need to be aware that taking a combined progesterone and estrogen regimen is no longer recommended to prevent heart disease. A woman should discuss other alternatives of protecting the heart with her physician.
  
  
• Women should discuss with their physicians the value of taking combined progesterone and estrogen replacement therapy to prevent osteoporosis. There may be alternative treatments based on a woman's unique health profile.
  
  
• Women need to understand that this latest research does not affect women who have had their uterus removed by hysterectomy, who are usually prescribed estrogen alone. Those findings are not yet available.

Always consult your physician for more information.

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