Abstract
Hormonal factors and their influence on the development of multiple sclerosis are so far an unclear chapter in this severe neurologic disease. With all the population growing older, menopause becomes a longer and more important time of women´s lives.
Questions of menopause and hormonal substitution therapy are topics of stormy discussions both in medical journals and in the general public. Menopause is the permanent ceasing of periods due to decreased ovarian function and production of endogenous estrogens.
It is diagnosed after 12 months of amenorrhea. Another term for the time of the menopausal change is climacteric, meaning the phase of women´s ageing and transition from the reproductive phase to non-reproductive phase, in contrary to andropause ? male transition to old age.