The overall architecture of bone is divided into cancellous bone (also referred to as trabecular bone) and cortical bone. Cortical bone forms a compact shell around the more delicate cancellous bone, which is formed by an interconnective latticework of trabeculae. In general, the peripheral skeleton is composed primarily of cortical bone, while the axial skeleton is composed of both cancellous and cortical bone. Because the surface area of cancellous bone far exceeds that of cortical bone, and is more metabolically active, cancellous bone is more severely affected if bone remodeling becomes uncoupled. During the accelerated period of bone loss immediately after menopause, cancellous bone loss increases 3-fold, while rates of cortical bone loss are slower.