The last word on hormone therapy?

By Leslie Wade, CNN

CNN When Janice hit menopause, she had terrible night sweats and hot flashes, but she was scared to undergo hormone replacement therapy.

Janice (who asked that her full name not be used for privacy reasons) had heard this treatment might be dangerous to her heart, and worried about risking her health.

Its a concern many American women have shared over the past decade since the benefits of hormone replacement therapy have been called into question. A large study called the Womens Health Initiative (WHI) was instrumental in casting doubt on these hormones.

Tuesday, scientists from the WHI released what they say is the definitive study on the safety of hormone replacement therapy (HRT). The bottom line: Its OK for most healthy women who have just entered menopause to take hormones for a short period of time, but the researchers do not recommend it for long-term use. The results are published in this weeks Journal of the American Medical Association.

Background

Hormone replacement therapy is used to replace estrogen and other female hormones that are no longer produced after menopause. For decades, doctors thought HRT was good for womens hearts and prescribed it, in part, to prevent heart disease. About 40% of menopausal women used these hormones.

In the 1990s, more than 27,000 women were enrolled in a clinical trial through the WHI. Scientists wanted to find out if HRT really prevented heart disease and other chronic diseases. But in 2002, a major part of the trial using two kinds of hormones (estrogen plus progestin) was suspended. Researchers found some of the participants had serious health problems, including an increased risk of coronary heart disease, breast cancer and stroke. Two years later, the remainder of the clinical trial, involving women who had hysterectomies and were on only one hormone (estrogen), was also shut down due to health concerns.

When the WHI study was suspended, it received a lot of attention, both in the medical world and in the media. Many doctors stopped prescribing oral HRT. Today only about 10% to 15% of menopausal women still take them, experts say.

The study

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The last word on hormone therapy?