BETHESDA, MARYLAND - The best scientists in a 3-day consensus conference on the management of symptoms of menopause today concluded that, despite its risks, the short-term estrogen therapy is the best way to mitigate the debilitating problems like hot flashes. But the independent panel of 10 members, convened by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) also said that other problems traditionally attributed to menopause like depression and joint pain were more likely due to aging and should not treated with hormones.
Since it was approved in the US in the 1940s, estrogen and progestin early therapy has been widely used to relieve symptoms of menopause and to prevent many chronic diseases, such as osteoporosis and heart disease. Then, in 02, a study of 16,000 women-named Initiative on Women's Health (WHI) dropped a bombshell: the participants were more likely to suffer heart attacks and breast cancer if they took estrogen and combination progestin. Sales nosedived hormone replacement therapy, and many older women asked themselves how best to meet their symptoms.
A "state-of-the-science" statement issued by the group agrees with a number of professional societies, which, since the discovery WHI recommended that hormone therapy should be used to the lowest possible dose for the shortest time possible. But the panel recommends testing ethnically diverse women of treatment to help evaluate the course of time and a good deal for such therapies. It also urges the research on possible alternative treatments, including plants and some antidepressants.
in addition, "we have pruned the list" symptoms related to menopause, said panelist Lois Verbrugge, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, and currently a professor invited to the national University of Singapore. the depression, irritability, forgetfulness, joint pain, urinary incontinence, and changes in libido can not be easily associated with menopause the committee concluded, while hot flashes, vaginal dryness, and perhaps sleep disorders are more clearly triggered by the condition.
The Panel found that, in some cases, hormone therapy is appropriate, and does not give a very small increase in the absolute risk of disease for many middle-aged women. "I think we're too in our enthusiasm to avoid these drugs," said Deborah Grady presenter of the University of California, San Francisco - but also warned that women remain on hormone therapy for possible delay [
Related Sites
information about hormone therapy NIH
Initiative for women's health
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