The use of hormone replacement therapy in postmenopausal women with type 2diabetes

In healthy postmenopausal women, estrogen or hormone replacement therapy (E RT or HRT) can alleviate menopausal symptoms and prevent osteoporosis and m ay also protect against cardiovascular disease (CVD). In addition to improv ing lipid metabolism, there are reports that estrogen also improves paramet ers regulating carbohydrate metabolism, including insulin resistance, in he althy women. Therefore, it is likely that ERT or HRT would also benefit wom en with type 2 diabetes, not only in relieving menopausal symptoms but also in improving the metabolic abnormalities associated with diabetes and in p reventing cardiovascular disease.