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Healthbeat Expert Dr. Kim Mulvihill answers questions about hormone therapy (July 15, 02)
Millions of American women are today seriously concerned about their health care.
They take hormones as treatment for symptoms during menopause.
But a huge study has concluded that long-term use of estrogen and progestin may be dangerous.
News Specialist Carole Mikita has been following this story.
The results from the nation's biggst hormone study suggest that many of the 6- million women who use them should stop. But the National Institues of Health is urging women to talk with their doctors. So, today, thousands of Utahns are doing that.
The doctors here say if the number of phone calls to their office is any indication, Utah women are worried and they want answers. Thousands in our state have been prescribed a combination of estrogen and progestin to treat menopause.
But just yesterday the government abruptly halted a study of 16,600 women three years early because results showed the pills can actually harm the hearts of previously healthy women.
Dr. John C. Nelson/OB-GYN: "IF EVER THERE WERE A TIME FOR A PATIENT AND PHYSICIAN TO HAVE A HEART-TO-HEART TALK ABOUT THE DATA, THE SPECIFIC CIRCUMSTANCE OF THAT PATIENT, THE SPECIFIC SYMPTOMS, ALL THE MEDICAL HISTORY AND SO FORTH, THIS IS THAT TIME. MEDICINE IS PRACTICED ONE PATIENT AT A TIME, NOT ON TELEVISION."
Here's the confusing part of the study: The risk for an individual appears small.
Compare 10,000 women who take hormones for a year with a group that doesn't.
With the hormone-takers, 8 got breast cancer, 7 heart attacks, 8 strokes and 18 blood clots in their legs or lungs. Researchers say no deaths resulted.
But multiply that by the millions taking hormones and it quickly adds up to thousands of preventable illnesses.
Connie Spjute is both a nurse and estrogen-user. She says education about potential side effects is the key.
Connie Spjute, R.N./Estrogen user: "WE CAN HAVE WOMEN STILL ON IT AND NOT BE SO SCARED, BUT ALSO WOMEN WHO DON'T NEED IT SHOULD LOOK FOR OTHER ALTERNATIVES."
Every woman faces menopause, but its symptoms can be different-- hot flashes, night sweats, irritability or intimacy problems. The good news, doctors say, is there's help.
Dr. Nelson: "THERE ARE SOME PEOPLE WHO ARE ON ESTROGEN WHO PROBABLY SHOULD NOT BE. THERE ARE PROBABLY SOME PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT ON ESTROGEN WHO MIGHT BENEFIT A GREAT DEAL. WE NEED TO INDIVIDUALIZE THE THERAPY."
The warnings do not apply to the 8- million American women taking estrogen alone, therapy restricted to those who who have had hysterectomies.
And the study tested only Prempro, the leading estrogen- progestin combination, not other brands with lower doses of estrogen, or estrogen patches, which may be safer.
July 10, 2002
