Медицинские услуги
© 2017-2021 Сайт «БЕЛМЕД.БАЙ», info@belmed.by
December 2, 2003 — Two new studies in the December issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology explore women's knowledge and behavior regarding hormone therapy (HT) after the well-publicized Women's Health Initiative (WHI) study results beginning in July 2002. The WHI study found that an estrogen-progestin HT product increased the risk of heart attack, stroke, blood clots, breast cancer, gallbladder disease and dementia.
Between January and March 2003, about six months after publication of the initial WHI study results, researchers at Kaiser Permanente of Northern California and the University of California, San Francisco, surveyed 670 women, ages 50 to 69, to determine their understanding of the WHI findings and what actions they took in response to the findings.* All of the women were Kaiser Permanente Health Plan members and were using HT (either estrogen alone or estrogen-progestin) in the year preceding the release of the WHI findings. Most of the women surveyed were long-term HT users, with the median duration of use being nine years.
Despite the fact that only 23 percent of the women had an accurate understanding of the WHI study results, 56 percent of them attempted to stop taking HT in the six to eight months after the WHI findings were released. Among the 44 percent of women who chose to continue HT, the main reasons were relief of hot flashes (25.7 percent) and protection against osteoporosis (19.2 percent). While the majority of women said that they got their information about the WHI study from the media, the strongest predictor of an attempt to discontinue HT was based on information sent to them by their Kaiser Permanente physician explaining the study's findings. The researchers say that more effort is needed to provide women with adequate information about the risks and benefits of HT.
In a second study of the same group of women,* the researchers looked at the experiences of postmenopausal women who tried to stop HT. Among the 670 women in the original study group, 56 percent reported that they either had stopped or had tried to stop using HT. Nearly three-fourths (74 percent) of these women successfully stopped taking HT. Most (71 percent) of these women stopped taking HT abruptly while 29 percent tapered off slowly.
About one-fourth of women who tried to stop reported that they resumed HT because they developed troublesome withdrawal symptoms such as hot flashes, excessive sweating, fatigue, depression, and vaginal dryness. Most of the symptoms began one week after stopping.
Based on these findings, the researchers conclude that approximately 70 percent of women who choose to stop HT will have either no or tolerable symptoms, even if they stop abruptly. The remainder of women who try to stop HT are likely to have bothersome symptoms that might persist, especially long-time HT users who have had a hysterectomy.