The recent Forbes report entitled the Hormone Dilemma 7 April 2009 sheds a little light on HRT but we’re not completely out of the dark.

Touting HRT as “anti-aging” more than a treatment for menopausal symptoms, the report states prior to its bad press in  2002, one-third of American women over 50 were being prescribed combination progestin-estrogen hormone therapy. This subsequently dropped to one-ninth.  Sounds a lot but that still means 20 million American women are on HRT.

So what are the risks?  Breast cancer.  A clear correlation between HRT and breast cancer was established based on breast cancer incident rates before and after 2002.  Clearly, HRT increases the risk of breast cancer. Yet doctors still argue it is not as clear cut as that.  They also say that the risk is still low implying it is worth it given the benefits of HRT. 

According to the report, the recommendation on HRT is:

• lower doses,  .325-mg estrogen and 1.5-mg progestin
• maximum of 2-3 years
• women under 60
• women who are not high risk breast cancer. 

However you rush out to get an Rx for HRT, read about the results of the UK Million Women Study.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 8th, 2009 at 11:23 am and is filed under BHRT. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.