US Pharm. 2012;37(6):1.
Cornwall, UK—According to a series of articles published in June issue of Climacteric, the journal of the International Menopause Society, the benefits of hormone-replacement therapy (HRT) outweigh the risks for women who start therapy near menopause. Correcting a widespread impression left by the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) that women taking HRT had a higher rate of heart disease, stroke, and breast cancer, the articles support the idea that women who start HRT before 60 years of age or within 10 years of menopause have a lower risk of heart disease and overall mortality (the average woman in the WHI study was 12 years past menopause when treatment began). “There is no doubt that HRT is not appropriate for every woman, but it may be appropriate for many women, and each individual woman needs to talk this over with her clinician,” a WHI investigator stated.
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