Hormone Replacement Therapy

Post-menopausal estrogen therapy does not appear to protect women in their 60s and older from heart disease, but researchers say it may have some protective effect for women in their 50s. The Women's Health Initiative, which conducted the research, stopped the analysis in March 2004 because of a higher risk of stroke among women taking estrogen. But further examination of the data shows that, at least for women between 50 and 59, the hormone may provide a boost to heart health.

Hormone therapy used to treat prostate cancer that has already spread might save patients from cancer but raise the risk of diabetes and heart disease. Writing in the Sept. 20 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, researchers at Harvard Medical School said they examined the records of 73,000 men ages 66 and older who were diagnosed with local or regional prostate cancer.

Healthy middle-aged women who take hormones to ease the misery of hot flashes and night sweats have fewer depressive symptoms, less anxiety and tension, and better and more sex than those who do not, according to a new study. Though the long-term effects of hormone replacement therapy could not be measured by the new research, it did offer some reassuring findings. It suggested that some women's cholesterol profiles and metabolic function might improve on hormone replacement therapy and that blood pressure did not rise during or after a relatively brief stay on hormone replacement.

By opting for surgery to remove her breasts while they were still healthy, Angelina Jolie joined a growing number of women who have used genetic testing to take control of their health. Here are answers to some common questions about how DNA influences breast cancer risk and what women can do about it. What genes are involved in breast cancer? The two primary ones are known as BRCA1 and BRCA2. Hundreds of variants of these genes have been found that make a woman - or a man - more likely to develop breast cancer.

Hormone treatment may not deserve its bad rap, at least for women in their 50s. Use of the therapy for relief of menopausal symptoms plummeted 80% after results of the Women's Health Initiative's first long-term study were published in 2003. The findings implicated estrogen plus a progestin — the hormones of choice for treating menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes — in an increased risk of breast cancer, heart disease, stroke, blood clots and dementia. Estrogens alone (used by women who have had a hysterectomy)

Struggling with the black dog of depression? The supplement aisle abounds with options for people seeking a non-medicinal remedy - but figuring out what works and what doesn't can be a challenge for consumers and experts alike. That's because the data are generally poor, says Dr. Charles Raison, associate professor of psychiatry in the College of Medicine at the University of Arizona in Tucson. There are some exceptions. Hundreds of studies have investigated the effects of omega-3 fatty acids and St. John's wort.

When a major study of hormone replacement therapy showed that it increased the risks of heart disease and breast cancer, many women went cold turkey, leaving some of them with almost intolerable hot flashes and night sweats. Now a small new study suggests there may be a safer way to relieve their menopausal symptoms.

Wyeth Inc. was slapped with a class-action lawsuit Thursday following a study released this week that identified increased health risks to women from the company's Prempro hormone replacement therapy. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of women who allege that the hormone replacement has damaged them, said the law firm Schiffrin & Barroway. The suit, filed in U.S.

Susan Sullivan doesn't know whether her health would be helped or harmed by hormone replacement therapy. But the 55-year-old Topanga Canyon artist is counting on one thing: By the time her 20-year-old daughter reaches menopause, there will finally be some solid, trustworthy medical information about who should be on hormones and why. Like most U.S.

Dr. Michael Kleerekoper thinks hormone replace therapy is terrific for post-menopausal women--a view widely shared by his colleagues in orthopedics, gynecology, cardiology and internal medicine. But it is not, he notes wryly, a position widely shared by U.S. women. The good doctor was reminded of that last spring when he and several other experts faced 1,000 well-informed Los Angeles women for a $75-a-plate luncheon at the Beverly Hilton called "Women and Doctors."