Hormone therapy regimens for managing the menopause and premature ovarian insufficiency

What is the optimal management of women with premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) based on the best available evidence in the literature?

To review the current evidence concerning the long-term harmful effects of premature or early menopause, and to discuss some of the clinical implications.

Data suggest that estrogen-containing hormone therapy is associated with beneficial effects with regard to cardiovascular disease when the therapy is initiated temporally close to menopause but not when it is initiated later. However, the hypothesis that the cardiovascular effects of postmenopausal hormone therapy vary with the timing of therapy initiation (the hormone-timing hypothesis) has not been tested.