Most women unclear on hormone therapy risks

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Fewer than one third of women 40 to 60 years old have heard about the landmark study that found the risks of hormone therapy for most menopausal women probably outweigh their benefits.

And just 40 percent got more answers right than wrong on a series of questions about whether hormone therapy increased or reduced the risk of seven different conditions, according to the report in Menopause: The Journal of the North American Menopause Society.

"Even with this enormously well-publicized clinical trial, a substantial number of women are not aware of the Women's Health Initiative, and their knowledge of the clinical impact of hormone therapy is poor," Dr. Alison J. Rigby of Stanford University School of Medicine in California and her colleagues write.

In July 2002, the first results from the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) were published, showing that taking estrogen plus progesterone for more than four years boosted risk of breast cancer and heart disease. Two years later, an increased risk of stroke and life-threatening blood clots was reported among women taking estrogen only.

Based on the findings, practice guidelines have been changed to limit hormone therapy to short term use to combat menopausal symptoms, Rigby and her colleagues note. While fewer women are now prescribed hormone therapy, they add, it's not clear how much women know about the WHI findings and their implications.

To investigate, they conducted an Internet survey of a nationally representative sample of 781 women.

Just 29 percent said they were aware of the Women's Health Initiative study results. African-American women, as well as women with less education, had less knowledge about hormone therapy's risks and benefits. Among women who didn't know about the study, 63.5 percent said they weren't sure whether the risks of hormone therapy outweighed its benefits, while 36.6 percent of women who knew about the WHI study said they were unsure.

"These findings suggest a wide gap in patient awareness and knowledge of the potential risks of hormone therapy despite widespread media coverage of the evidence of harm from the WHI trials and a national decrease in hormone therapy prescribing," Rigby and her team write. The findings show that new approaches are needed for conveying important medical information to the public, they conclude.

SOURCE: Menopause: The Journal of the North American Menopause Society, September/October 2007.