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Monday, 15 July, 2002, 09:15 GMT 10:15 UK
HRT: Do the benefits outweigh the risks?
American research has suggested that women who take hormone replacement therapy may be at increased risk of breast cancer, heart disease and stroke.
The study found that women who took a combination of equine hormones, oestrogen and progestin were 26% more likely to develop breast cancer.
It also found the hormones increased the risks of heart attacks by 29%, strokes by 41% and doubled the risk of blood clots.
But experts in both the UK and the US say the risks of cancer or heart disease remain small and women should consult their doctors before stopping taking HRT.
Is HRT a safe option for menopausal women? Do the benefits outweigh the risks? Would you continue with the therapy?
This debate is now closed. Read a selection of your comments below.
Kath, Bristol, England
I have been on HRT for the last seven years. Initially I was given one which was based on equine hormones - but thanks to my own search for information and my GP's within a year a change was made to one which was did not involve any pregnant horses, thank goodness.
The bottom line is that the body turns off hormone production for a reason. Obviously, it no longer needs nor requires hormones, so why replace them artificially? Surely we can suffer through the temporary effects of menopause without HRT - women have done it for centuries.
A balanced diet, moderate exercise and a positive mental attitude is the best prescription for good health. Ask any doctor.
Oh dear, I'm one of those male doctors who is bent on poisoning patients with HRT. I must have changed because a few years ago I was one of those male GPs who refused to push my patients into having HRT.
In fact, as a GP in the NHS, I have nothing to gain from putting women on HRT. If anything it increases my workload as patients on the medication need regular follow-up.
I am careful with all patients to go through the alternatives to HRT (including natural remedies or nothing!) and I normally send women away to think things through before making the decision.
Alison Smith, Wiltshire
I wish doctors would learn more about nutrition to help prevent disease and get out of the habit of automatically prescribing medication for everything. The best thing I ever did was to live in Hong Kong for 10 years. There, I lived on a mainly Chinese diet that included a lot of fresh vegetables and lots of soybean curd. I never experienced any kind of menopausal symptoms: no hot flushes, no mood swings, nothing. Even though I fully expected to go through the same hell that my mother did and I do not have osteoporosis like she does either. Thank God for the humble soybean, I say, it certainly beats HRT any day of the week.
Women don't contract breast cancer, they develop it. It has been widely known that HRT will increase your risk of breast cancer, what is disturbing about this research is that it was always believe that it helped prevent heart disease, stroke and so on. We now discover it doesn't help prevent, instead you are slight more likely to develop one of these conditions. I don't think women should necessarily stop HRT. They have assess the risks and benefits to them individually and discuss their options with their physician.
I totally fail to understand these wimpish women who rush for the nearest pill to delay the onset of a natural process. A good healthy diet rich in calcium will avoid the onset of osteoporosis. I have absolutely no problem with being a little warm once in a while. I refused the therapy when offered it by my GP. I am delighted that I did. I had heard only bad things about it and this now seems borne out by the evidence. The only people benefiting from HRT are the drug companies.
David Howe, UK
I have been on HRT therapy for close to 20 years. I always thought the benefits outweighed the risks. But after this last study, one begins to question the options. Having had colon rectal cancer two years ago, what do I decide, to continue or stop? Even doctors are undecided. We should put our trust in God, and not human beings.
Isn't it a bit strange that a research project was stopped because it was producing results that the sponsors didn't like?
Given the appalling cruelty involved in harvesting equine hormones, I hope lots of UK users are sufficiently worried by the report to go their doctors and ask for the alternatives to Premarin and other similar products.
Betty Freeman, England
I'm sorry, but this is just another example of the media misleading people with statistics. 26% sounds like a lot. What it actually means is that instead of 32 women in 10,000 contracting breast cancer, 40 in 10,000 will - assuming that the sample used was large enough to be statistically significant.
This isn't the first report on the side effects of HRT and in fact the increased risks of breast cancer are one of the side effects stated on the product information sheet. It is okay for the (mainly male) doctors to tell women not to panic but how would they feel if they discovered that a treatment they had been taking had increased their chances of contracting a number of fatal diseases? I am 52 and have never taken HRT but feel dreadfully sorry for the woman who have and woken up to this news today.
I have been on HRT from the age of 34. I am now 49 and I would not stop taking it because of one report on one type of HRT treatment. The benefits I have to my mental and physical wellbeing far outweigh any potential risk.
I heard on the news this morning that women in the UK had no chance of being prescribed HRT treatment based on equine products. Wrong my wife was and contracted breast cancer. When we suspected the tie with HRT treatment at the time we were told that there was no link at all.
Isn't it obvious by now that the more we stupid humans try to play God the more problems we create? People are bewildered in this day and age, thinking that so-called scientific advancement is an advancement of human civilisation.
10 Jul 02 | Health
10 Jul 02 | Health
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