ABSTRACT
Information from the World Health Organization suggests that by the year 2025 the number of people older than the age of 65 will be more than 800 million (approximately 10% of the world population) [1]. Of these 800 million people, the majority (>60%) will be women [1]. It has been suggested further that by the year 2030 there will be more than 60 million postmenopausal women in the United States alone and approximately 1.2 billion postmenopausal women worldwide [1-3]. Menopause is dened as the permanent cessation of menstruation (>12 months) resulting from the loss of ovarian follicular activity, and is a natural process of aging [4]. The median age at menopause in North America is 50.5-51.4 years; in Europe the age at menopause ranges from 50.1 to 52.8 years; in Latin American countries the age at menopause varies widely from 43.8 to 53 years depending on lifestyle; and in Asia it varies from 42.1 to 49.5 years [2,3]. As the median age at menopause in North America is 51 years, and the current life expectancy is approximately 80 years, most women will spend almost one third of their life post-menopause.
