Are you comfortable prescribing HRT?
POLL: How do you compare with your colleagues in your comfort level for prescribing hormone replacement therapy for symptoms of menopause.
Vasomotor symptoms and other symptoms related to decreased estrogen levels from menopause are costly to women as well as the health care system. Women who experience them are burdened with hot flashes, sleep disturbances, and a variety of other issues that can diminish their quality of both home and work life, including dyspareunia, anxiety, depression, irritability, and memory impairment. Also, research has shown that untreated vasomotor symptoms are associated with significant increases in healthcare utilization, work loss, and cost burden.
The one treatment that most effectively manages many of these symptoms is hormone therapy, but an analysis has shown that the use of hormone replacement therapy is associated with an increased risk of the two most common forms of ovarian cancer. Also, another analysis has shown that HRT isn't cardioprotective.
Considering these new findings, how comfortable are you in prescribing HRT to women who experience moderate to severe vasomotor symptoms? (Assume there are no contraindications based on patient history.)
Link between reproductive life span and postmenopausal muscle mass
November 30th 2023A recent study in Menopause, the journal of The Menopause Society, suggests that a longer reproductive life span and later age at menopause may be associated with a reduced risk of low handgrip strength in postmenopausal women.
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Exogenous hormones and patients at increased risk for breast cancer
October 17th 2023This lecture, presented by Holly J. Pederson, MD, at The Menopause Society 2023 Annual Meeting, looked at combined oral contraceptives in BRCA carriers and other high-risk patients, and hormone therapy in postmenopausal gene carriers as well as other high-risk women.
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