Primary osteoporosis in postmenopausal women

World Health Organization (WHO) defines natural menopause as at least 12 consecutive months of amenorrhea not due to physiologic and pathologic causes. Statistics show that the mean age of natural menopause is 51 years in industrialized nations, compared to 48 years in poor and non-industrialized nations. With the average life span extended to 70 years, most women will spend more than one third of their life time beyond the menopausal transition. Besides, the proportion of menopausal women is rising since the aging population is expanding rapidly. Thus, the health: of menopausal women becomes a prime concern worldwide. Menopause is a natural physiological phenomenon resulting from primary ovarian failure secondary to apoptosis or programmed cell death. Ovarian function declines with age. The onset of menopause features the decreasing production of estradiol, as well as increasing levels of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH). During the menopausal transition period, women will experience a number of bothersome symptoms, such as hot flashes, night sweats, vaginal atrophy and dryness, dyspareunia, sleep disturbance, and mood swings. Besides these, osteoporosis is the most prevalent disease in menopausal women, and is strongly associated with low quality of life and we concentrate on postmenopausal osteoporosis in this review.