Updates

In all fields of medicine, we, the health-care providers, witness a growing number of patients who use all sorts of complementary and traditional medicine (CAM). A new study, which was published in a journal with which most of us are not familiar, compared the results from two surveys done in two geographically and culturally diverse… Read More

It is often observed that people who are more intelligent, better educated, have intellectually challenging occupations, and engage in mentally stimulating leisure activities face lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease. The concept of [i]cognitive reserve[/i] is used as an explanatory mechanism for these phenomena [1]. The inference is that certain attainments and activities (e.g. literacy or… Read More

In a recent publication, under the section heading 'Personal Perspectives', Dr James Simon considers hypothetical comparisons between oral conjugated equine estrogens (CEE) and transdermal estradiol and between oral medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) and oral micronized progesterone for their effects on four primary outcomes of the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) [1]: cardiovascular disease risk, cerebrovascular disease risk,… Read More

29-30th March 2014 - HRT Excellence Days - an international collaboration between IMS, the Russian Menopause Society, and Abbott Laboratories, Zhangzhou, ChinaPost meeting report, by Tobie de Villiers, President, IMS Tobie de Villiers, President reports 'IMS provided the international speaker panel which included John Stevenson and new Board member Alfred Mueck. Qi Yu who is… Read More

Postmenopausal women aged 40–79 years (mean 54 years) who had moderate to severe vasomotor symptoms (VMS) were randomly assigned to receive paroxetine 7.5 mg or placebo once daily for 12 or 24 weeks [1]. Assessments included changes in body mass index (BMI) and weight, Arizona Sexual Experiences Scale score (ASEX), Hot Flash-Related Daily Interference Scale… Read More

Stroke is a major disease in women, having a huge impact on morbidity, mortality and health-care expenditure. Undoubtedly, it is related to aging and occurs mainly in old people, but does it have any gender-specific characteristics? A new guideline from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association focuses on the risk factors unique to women, such… Read More

The potential association of postmenopausal hormone use and the occurrence of acute pancreatitis was investigated in a prospective study involving 31,494 postmenopausal women (aged 48–8  years) from the population-based Swedish Mammography Cohort [1]. Participants completed a baseline questionnaire in 1997 assessing their use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT). The cohort was linked to the hospital-based… Read More

5-8th March 2014 - Florence, Italy - Tobie de Villiers, President reports 'We had an excellent turnout of nearly 200 delegates attending the IMS session entitled: "What does the future look like - therapies in development".Five other IMS Board members acted as presenters including David Archer, Rosella Nappi, Peter Chedraui, Anne Gompel and Duru Shah,… Read More

Once in a while the question whether or not low-dose aspirin should be recommended for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease is put on the table, analyzed and debated, but still there is no clear-cut recommendation. Patrono has recently provided another overview on this topic [1]. Low-dose aspirin has been shown to be effective in preventing… Read More

Heliövaara-Peippo and colleagues have recently reported on a randomized controlled trial in five Finnish university hospitals to compare the effect of treatment with a levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system (LNG-IUS) and the effect of hysterectomy in women with menorrhagia ([I]n[/I] = 221) [1]. The studied population that fulfilled the inclusion criteria, initially aged 35–49 years, was monitored… Read More