Unnecessary panic about hormone replacement therapy during menopause

Are you suffering from typical menopausal complaints, such as aching joints, irritability, heat flashes, forgetfulness, sleeplessness, heart palpitations, weight gain, pain during sex, urinary tract infections and sombreness? You are not alone. About 8 in 10 women older than 50 struggle with those same complaints.

Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) replaces the female sex hormones (oestrogen and/or progesterone) that are no longer being produced by the ovaries and can provide a good solution in many cases. Yet, only one tenth of all women experiencing the complaints above make use of HRT and that is due to a dated study that caused an unjustified panic years ago. An American study by the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) in 2002 suggested that the use of HRT caused an increase of breast cancer by 30 %. Today, the study and especially the interpretation of the results are criticised.

According to professor and gynaecologist Herman Depypere at UZ Gent 30 % seems like a lot, but in fact, those numbers mean very little. Out of a group composed of 1.000 women at the age of 50, 2.3 will develop breast cancer in one year’s time. The rise of 30 % means 0.7 more women. That also goes for a woman who gains 11 lbs or drinks 2 glasses of alcohol a day, says Depypere.

Furthermore, a study in 2014 showed that the risk of breast cancer dropped by 30 % for those who only received oestrogen instead of a combination of oestrogen and progesterone. According to Depypere, that study received no attention whatsoever and a lot of women have been missing out on the advantages of HRT because gynaecologists mistakenly fear the alleged heightened risk for breast cancer.