[Hormone therapy in menopause. A current update]

Internist (Berl). 2003 Dec;44(12):1500-7. doi: 10.1007/s00108-003-1080-8.
[Article in German]

Abstract

While the use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for prophylactic indications such as cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, and Alzheimer's disease was increasingly propagated during the 1990s, recent studies have reported no risk reduction for women after myocardial infarction (HERS) or women from a mixed population with an average age of 63 years (Women's Health Initiative [WHI] Study). The results of the latter study even suggest an increased risk for cardiovascular events and breast cancer with previous or ongoing combined oral estrogen plus progestin. A final risk-benefit assessment for estrogen monotherapy will only be possible after the ongoing part of the WHI Study has been evaluated, expected in 2005. As effects, side effects, and contraindications for HRT in postmenopausal women are better known, the need for individualized risk assessment and the definition of therapeutic goals increases. Since the WHI Study did not address the risk-benefit ratio for women with perimenopausal complaints or osteoporosis or with lower dose hormone preparations commonly used in Germany, there is an urgent need to answer these open questions with large confirmative studies.

Publication types

  • English Abstract
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Breast Neoplasms / chemically induced
  • Breast Neoplasms / prevention & control
  • Climacteric / drug effects*
  • Clinical Trials as Topic
  • Coronary Thrombosis / chemically induced
  • Coronary Thrombosis / prevention & control
  • Female
  • Hormone Replacement Therapy* / adverse effects
  • Humans
  • Intracranial Embolism / chemically induced
  • Intracranial Embolism / prevention & control
  • Menopause / drug effects*
  • Middle Aged
  • Osteoporosis, Postmenopausal / prevention & control
  • Risk Factors
  • Treatment Outcome