Q: What's an important health issue for an older woman?

A: In the 1980s a lot of research on women's health problems began when large numbers of women began living past their reproductive years.

Since 1900, a whole generation of women have undergone hormonal depravation or estrogen depravation because their ovaries stopped working. Since almost every tissue in the body has estrogen receptors, this has become a very important issue.

The hormones that disappear are very important to many parts of the body that we never thought of before. For instance, there are estrogen receptors in the coronary artery that affect the blood flow to the heart. We're just now scratching the surface and learning more.

The questions doctors ask themselves are how can we practice preventive medicine and keep these women healthy for as long a time as possible? Discussing hormone replacement therapy, ways to modify the diet and exercise are things that may affect the health of a woman in menopause.

M. Wayne Heine, M.D., Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at The University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson

Q: Is it effective to start hormone replacement therapy after a woman starts menopause?

A: Yes it can be. There's a common misconception that if a woman hasn't started hormone replacement therapy right around the time of her menopause it won't do any good. That's not true. There can be some benefit no matter what the woman's age.

Ruth Reiter, RN., Obstetrics and Gynecology Nurse Practitioner, University Medical Center