May 1, 2024

"No need to fear menopause hormone drugs, finds major women’s health study."

"A landmark women’s health study scared women and doctors away from menopause hormone treatments. A 20-year follow-up found that fears were largely overblown," WaPo reports (free access link).
The [2002] results disrupted medical care for millions of women who had been taking hormones....  Now, more than 20 years later, a long-term follow-up of the women in the WHI suggests the drugs are a relatively safe option for the short-term treatment of menopause symptoms in women under 60....

18 comments:

Joe Smith said...

Seems that birth control pills are coming under scrutiny these days.

Either way, I hope the harridans on the left keep taking them...

gilbar said...

well, OF COURSE, they HAVE To say that hormone replacement therapy is "FINE!",
since they're prescribing it for little children now TOO

n.n said...

Relatively safe for a minority of women.

Ice Nine said...

>"A landmark women’s health study scared women and doctors away from menopause hormone treatments. A 20-year follow-up found that fears were largely overblown."<

"Overblown"?? A study showed evidence of risk to women from menopause hormones and a recommendation against their use, based on those findings, was rendered. Are we cool so far? Then a subsequent study showed that there doesn't seem to be so much risk and recommended against the previous recommendation. OK, cool again.

But that makes the first duly-researched recommendation "overblown." Aha! we've found some women being victimized again. (And I'll just bet it was by the patriarchy!)

Ralph L said...

Emphasis on "short-term."

typingtalker said...

"A 20-year follow-up found that fears were largely overblown ... "

Which it true of most fears. Some are tiny and not important such as, "step on a crack, break your mother's back." Some are big and very important, "If you sail too far from land you'll fall off the edge of the earth."

The not-overblown fears killed a few people and we mostly learned which to avoid. As a whole, the human species has done pretty well.

Now, about Global Warming ...

MadisonMan said...

The problem with "Experts say"
They try their best, but sometimes, the conclusion doesn't quite match the data.

Wince said...

If not menopause, what do trans women go through?

Them-o-pause?

Bima said...

Further to Joe Smith's comment above it appears that the use of hormonal contraceptives is associated with increased aggression in women using them.
Aggression in Women: Behavior, Brain and Hormones - PMC (nih.gov)https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5942158/
Hormonal contraceptive use is associated with differences in women's inflammatory and psychological reactivity to an acute social stressor - PubMed (nih.gov)
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37914104/
Hormonal Contraception and Violent Death: The Physiological and Psychological Links - PMC (nih.gov)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8363127/

ga6 said...

" relatively" Do they know the meaning of that word?

The Vault Dweller said...

Life is about balancing risks. And different people will make different decisions when it comes to that balancing. The problem with articles like this is that people tend to read them as, "This is THE way that people should handle this situation." I think the pandemic response should teach us that even when the possible negative outcome is as serious as death, it doesn't necessarily mean all people will or should make the same decision.

iowan2 said...

Already noted in these comments.


Strange that hormones pumped into 12 year olds had zero risks. But replacing hormones that have been active in the bodies of 50 year olds for decades, raises red flags?

Follow the science!! Oh, and when like this situation offers a fork in the road. . . TAKE IT!

Big Mike said...

I trust the scientists of 20 years ago more than I trust the scientists of today.

BG said...

Well, I had my own unscientific, limited number (2) study. My mom and my aunt both had total hysterectomies. (That means ovaries included.) They were prescribed replacement hormones for YEARS. (I'm talking >20.) Both got breast cancer. No previous history of breast cancer in the family. Aunt died of it. Mom had a mastectomy with nothing to follow up except Tamoxifen. There must have been a few cancer cells left behind because she ended up with lung cancer. (Never smoked.) So she died from that.
I wouldn't take replacement hormones for any reason whatsoever. Menopause wasn't that bad.
What are the hormones doing to children who claim/are told they are trans? It can't be anything good.

Mark said...

Surprise, surprise. Another story promoting Big Pharma. Pushing powerful hormones in a variety of contexts, where they have a powerful effect on the body, is big business. There's a lot of money in that powder.

Anthony said...

Very few, if any, epidemiological studies should be taken at face value.

Josephbleau said...

“ I trust the scientists of 20 years ago more than I trust the scientists of today.”

Ha ha, exactly.

Leora said...

I find this personally annoying as I suffered awful symptoms without an established treatment due to this apparently baseless scare.