From the end of the 1970s to the late 1990s there was a significant reduction in the incidence of hip and distal forearm fractures among Oslo women in the early phase after menopause. Part of this decline can be explained by the large increase in the use of hormone replacement therapy after menopause in the same period, a new study shows.

Many women in the menopausal transition experience hot flashes: unpredictable, sometimes disruptive, periods of intense heat in the upper torso, neck and face. Although generations of physicians have prescribed hormones to reduce these symptoms, very little research has focused on the underlying causes of hot flashes.