Women who suffer from some of the more extreme menopausal symptoms can take heart from a new analysis of the Women's Health Initiative data. A long-term, follow-up found no link between hormone replacement therapy and all-cause mortality, total cancer mortality or cardiovascular mortality.
Hormone Replacement Therapy
Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) used to be frequently prescribed for women undergoing the negative effects of menopause, such as hot flashes and poor sleep. But starting around 2002, when the Women s Health Initiative data were published that found a link between HRT and breast cancer, use of HRT dropped precipitously.
A new study shows that the duration of menopausal symptoms among women with frequent vasomotor symptoms of hot flashes and night sweats is much longer than previously thought.
A new retrospective study shows a significant association between reduced rate of knee- and hip- replacement revision and treatment with hormone replacement therapy (HRT). A good candidate theory for prospective trial to confirm, or refute.
It is estimated that over 20 million American women suffer from moderate-to-severe peri-menopausal hot flashes, and that most of its sufferers are not treating them. Some of that non-treatment stems from the federal WHI study of 2002 which seemed to show several serious risks from the most effective form of menopausal symptom treatment, hormone replacement therapy (HRT).
Judgment calls are inescapable in the practice of medicine. Physicians and patients must choose among different courses of treatment based on imperfect knowledge and incomplete information. Medical practitioners do their best with what's available. That's the way it is and presumably always will be.
The onset of menopause presents a complex set of questions to many women. One of those questions may be whether or not to begin hormone replacement therapy (HRT).