Don’t stop your hormone therapy because of the recent publication
August 30th, 2019
Many women have been frightened to take hormones, due to misinformation many years ago. The recent publication in the Lancet (29 August 2019) unfortunately does not provide any new information, as it includes results from old HRT that is no longer used. The risks stated in the paper are not applicable to current hormone therapies.
Watch WHRIA’s Prof John Eden on 9 NEWS comment on an observational study about menopausal hormone therapy and the risk of breast cancer, recently published in the Lancet. Unfortunately it includes old treatment therapies no longer used. Watch John Eden talk about the latest treatments for menopause, courtesy of Westpac Women’s Health Week 2019, password Health.
John explains: “The older synthetic treatments have been replaced by natural oestrogen and progesterone or Body Identical Hormones. These natural hormones are safer and have fewer side effects.
A review published by the Mayo Clinic three years ago compared the older synthetic hormone treatments with Body Identical Hormones. It showed that the Body Identical Hormones were significantly safer than synthetics. It’s a shame this study didn’t do the same comparison.
Modern hormone therapy also prevents hip and back fractures and halves the risk of a heart attack.
The biggest causes of death for Australian women are dementia, heart disease and stroke. Four percent of Australian Women will die of breast cancer. The death rate from all cancer, especially breast cancer has fallen over the last 20 years because of early detection and improvement in treatments”.
Head to the International Menopause Society statement about the current publication and see WHRIA’s Good news for menopause sufferers page for more information.
If you would like to see a doctor to assess your current hormone therapy, please ask your GP for a referral for Dr John Eden or Dr Amanda Beech and call 1300 722 206 to book.
Prof John Eden and Prof Susan Davies, Director of the Women’s Health Research Program at Monash University, are members of the International Menopause Society and have been reassuring women who suffer from life-affecting menopausal symptoms that modern HRT is much safer. They support the Society’s recent media statement.
