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Study: Estrogen Not Panacea for Menopause ills

...The 10,739 women in the latest study, which appeared in Monday's Archives of Internal Medicine, had all had hysterectomies.In both groups, fewer than 3 percent reported poor quality of life and scores for 40 percent were in the excellent range after a year.Several doctors said the conclusions cannot be generalized to apply to younger women.Dr.

Julia Johnson, vice chairman of gynecology at the University of Vermont, noted that the women were about 10 years past the age when troublesome symptoms such as hot flashes and night sweats - which can affect quality of life - are most likely to occur."Using this study to look at quality of life is sort of like comparing apples and oranges," said Johnson, who was not involved in the study.Dr.

Ginger Constantine of Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, which makes

Women not benefited by estrogen, study says

...Later results showed that estrogen-only pills, sold as Premarin, slightly increased the risk of stroke and possibly dementia.

The new results for estrogen-only pills echo previous data from the same study showing that estrogen-progestin had little effect on older women's overall well-being and quality of life.

The 10,739 women in the latest study, which appeared in yesterday's Archives of Internal Medicine, had all had hysterectomies.

Robert Brunner, the study's lead author and a researcher at the University of Nevada, said that estrogen pills reduced hot flashes in a subgroup of younger study participants but that these women still did not report a better quality of life than placebo users.

"Yes, it's improving some symptoms, but it's also producing some side effects, and that combination ends up resulting in no change" in quality of life, he said.

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Despite the risks, still on estrogen

...In the months before the WHI announcement, an estimated 14 million women in the United State were taking hormones.

Today the number hovers around 6 million.

Even the name has changed.

Hormone replacement therapy been renamed hormone therapy - the word "replacement" has been dropped.

A change in practice?

Despite the scientific sea change of the past three years, it's unclear to what extent clinical practice has been altered, and whether doctors are prescribing the drugs inappropriately or softpedaling risks.

Some health advocates say they worry that the dangers of hormone therapy may be obscured by the fog of marketing or lingering doubts among doctors about the validity of the WHI's findings.

"There are clinicians who read the data and say the earth is still flat" or insist that their patients are different, said Amy Allina, program director of the National Women's Health Network, a nonprofit educational group located in Washington.

"I think a lot of doctors have been slow to change," said Diana Zuckerman, president of the Washington-based National Research Center for Women and Families.

How many women, she mused, are trading relatively short-term relief for a long-term threat like invasive breast cancer?

While women are not returning to the drugs in droves, there has been an uptick in their use to treat the more troublesome s...

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