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May 22, 2007
Hormone Therapy
Female Hormone Replacement Therapy continues to take a bad rap. The Million Women Study has released a follow-up showing women who use HRT are at increased risk for ovarian cancer. The study has a number of flaws, which the critics are quick to point out.
And there is some clinical iatrogenesis proven, if the flaws are not fatal to the study. But even at its worst, the 20-60% relative risks of cancer or death in varying circumstances are actually much smaller absolute risks of 1/2500 to 1/3300. One or two women out of a thousand die of these cancers in 5 years. (Again, I do not mean to downplay the difficulty of such a condition.)
But the biggest problem is that this is old news. For two or three decades, we have been medicalizing menopause, and then seeking benefits to that medicalization. These drugs (not natural hormones for humans) are foisted on women, not just for symptoms of menopause (where they might be helpful for a short period of time), but for many conditions. There should be no surprise that there is conflicting data, or detrimental effects, when we create disease in order to destroy it.
Social iatrogenesis | By Robert Maddox | 07:42 PM