Full Description
Interest in sexuality and reproductive function does not cease when people begin to age. Instead, a new set of questions arises. Women want to know if it is safe to have babies in their late thirties and early forties. They want to know more about hot flashes and other symptoms of menopause-which ones are dangerous and which are merely uncomfortable. They are eager to learn about the relative risks and benefits of estrogen replacement therapy. Men, too, are concerned about age-related changes in their sexual function. Experts in reproductive physiology, gerontology, and genetics met at the National Institutes of Health in June of 1984 to discuss these and other concerns about aging and the reproductive system. The conference on Aging, Reproduc tion, and the Climacteric was sponsored by the American Fertility Society, The National Institute on Aging, and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. This volume is based on the proceedings of that confer ence.
Contents
I. Methodological Considerations in Research on the Aging Reproductive System.- 1 Animal Models for the Human Menopause.- 2 Methodological Issues in Clinical Research on the Aging Reproductive System.- II. Age-Related Changes in Regulatory Systems.- 3 Neuroendocrine Correlates of Aging in the Male.- 4 Reproductive Functions in Grandfathers.- 5 Aging of Adrenal Cortex and Ovary.- 6 Changes in the Central Nervous System and Neuroendocrine Control of Reproduction in Males and Females.- 7 Effects of Aging on the Mechanisms of Estrogen Action in Rat Uterus.- III. Aging and the Reproductive years.- 8 Paternal Age and Effects on Chromosomal and Specific Locus Mutations and on Other Genetic Outcomes in Offspring.- 9 Fertility Rates and Aging.- 10 Age-Related Changes in Gestation and Pregnancy Outcome.- IV. The Climacteric.- 11 Ovarian Changes during the Climacteric.- 12 Nongonadal Estrogen and Endocrine Function during the Menopause.- 13 The Basis of Menopausal Vasomotor Symptoms.- 14 Female Sexuality during and following Menopause.- V. Management of the Menopause.- 15 Health Status and Health Care Utilization by Menopausal Women.- 16 Estrogen Deprivation: The Physiology, Pathophysiology, and Informed Management of Female Menopause or Castration.- 17 Estrogen Therapy and the Risk of Breast, Ovarian, and Endometrial Cancer.- VI. Conclusion.- 18 Overall Summary and New Directions for Research.
