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Kenneth L. Noller, MD

JAMA. 2002;288:368-369.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

By the middle of the 20th century, it was well recognized that elderly women frequently developed severe osteoporosis, resulting in a life complicated by constant back pain and repeated fractures. By the 1970s and 1980s, it became clear that use of estrogenic substances at or near the time of menopause could prevent or treat osteoporosis, and these drugs became widely prescribed and taken. Even before the bone-sparing effects of estrogen were known, these agents were used extensively for the treatment of menopausal symptoms, primarily vasomotor instability and vaginal atrophy.¹

An intriguing coincidence occurred from about 1955 to 1965. Reproductive-aged women from that generation were the first to experience substantially reduced pregnancy risks due to development of safe anesthesia and readily available transfusion, as well as the availability of antihypertensive agents and broad-spectrum antibiotics. During this time, effective oral contraception became widely available to the general population . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Author Affiliation: Department of Obstetrics/Gynecology, Tufts University and New England Medical Center, Boston, Mass.

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James V. Lacey, Jr, Pamela J. Mink, Jay H. Lubin, Mark E. Sherman, Rebecca Troisi, Patricia Hartge, Arthur Schatzkin, and Catherine Schairer
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