Advertisement
Research Article| Volume 9, ISSUE 4, P339-345, March 1988

Prevalence of hormone replacement therapy in a sample of middle-aged women

  • S.H. Pedersen
    Affiliations
    Department of Social Medicine, Institute of Community Health, University of Odense, Denmark
    Search for articles by this author
  • B. Jeune
    Correspondence
    Correspondence to: Bernard Jeune, Institute of Community Health, Department of Social Medicine, J.B. Winløws Vej 17, 5000 Odense C., Denmark.
    Affiliations
    Department of Social Medicine, Institute of Community Health, University of Odense, Denmark
    Search for articles by this author
      This paper is only available as a PDF. To read, Please Download here.

      Abstract

      A survey based on a postal questionnaire sent to a random sample of Danish women aged 40–59 yr living on the island of Fünen (n = 401, response rate = 79%) revealed that the overall prevalence of the use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) was 16%, the highest rate being in the 50–54 age group (21%). Among post-menopausal women the rate was 21% and it was highest of all (37%) in those who had undergone an artificial menopause. The median age at the start of treatment was 44.3 yr among the artificial menopause and 48.9 yr among the natural menopause subjects. About half of the women were treated with natural oestrogen alone and over a third with cyclic natural oestrogen in combination with progestogens.
      Almost one-third of the women had consulted their doctor about climacteric complaints and two-thirds of these were current or past users of HRT. The women had ambiguous feelings towards HRT, approximately one third reporting a positive and one-third a negative attitude.

      Keywords

      To read this article in full you will need to make a payment

      Purchase one-time access:

      Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online access
      One-time access price info
      • For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
      • For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'

      Subscribe:

      Subscribe to Maturitas
      Already a print subscriber? Claim online access
      Already an online subscriber? Sign in
      Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect

      References

        • Greenwald P
        • Nasca PC
        • Caputo TA
        • Janerich DT
        Cancer risks from estrogen intake.
        NY State J Med. 1977; 77: 1069-1074
        • Persson I
        • Adami HO
        • Lindberg BS
        • Johansson EDB
        • Manell P
        Practice and patterns of estrogen treatment in climacteric women in a Swedish population.
        in: A descriptive epidemiological study. Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand. 62. 1983: 289-296 (Part I)
      1. Laegemiddelstatistik Dansk Laegemiddelforbruget i Danmark. 1985: 72-73 (Copenhagen)
        • Stadel BV
        • Weiss N
        Characteristics of menopausal women: A survey of King and Pierce counties in Washington, 1973–1974.
        Am J Epidemiol. 1975; 102: 209-216
        • Barrett-Connor E
        Postmenopausal estrogens - current prescribing patterns of San Diego gynecologists.
        West J Med. 1986; 144: 620-621
        • Villadsen S
        • Jeune B
        • Kongshavn T
        • Pedersen SH
        Alderen for menopausens indtraeden.
        Ugeskr Laeger. 1985; 147: 3637-3641
        • Holzman GB
        • Ravitch MM
        • Metheny W
        • Rothert ML
        • Holmes M
        • Hoppe RB
        Physicians' judgment about estrogen replacement therapy for menopausal women.
        Obstet Gynecol. 1984; 63: 303-311