Wall Street Journal Examines Debate Surrounding HRT, Common Misunderstandings About Therapy

Main Category: Menopause
Also Included In: Endocrinology;  Breast Cancer;  Cardiovascular / Cardiology
Article Date: 04 Feb 2009 - 3:00 PDT

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The Wall Street Journal's "Health Journal" on Thursday examined the debate surrounding the benefits and risks of hormone replacement therapy and addressed common misunderstandings about HRT. The column lists several important facts about HRT, including information about FDA-approved bio-identical hormones; drugs from compounding pharmacies; the accuracy of saliva tests compared with blood tests to monitor hormone levels; the risk of breast cancer; and timing the start of HRT, among other topics.

According to the Journal, there is a "muddle of misinformation" surrounding the use of HRT during menopause. "Millions of women abandoned" HRT after the discontinuation of a 2002 Women's Health Initiative study because of signs of increased risk of heart attack and stroke among women taking hormones, the Journal reports. However, an increasing number of experts now believe that women in the WHI, who had an average age of 63, "do not reflect the typical women entering menopause, and that the same risks may not apply to younger women," according to the Journal.

In the wake of the WHI study, many women have turned to so-called "bio-identical" hormones, though many experts "dismiss [the term] as meaningless," the Journal reports. Proponents of bio-identical hormones use the term to identify hormones with molecular structures identical to the natural hormones found in women. Margaret Weirman -- a professor of medicine at the University of Colorado-Denver -- said, "Women who were afraid after the WHI, as were their doctors, are going to alternative approaches that have little or no scientific information behind them. These women may be putting themselves at much higher levels of risk" (Beck, Wall Street Journal, "Health Journal," 2/3).

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