Hormone replacement therapy after menopause and the unkept promises
Keywords:
HORMONE REPLACEMENT THERAPY, POSTMENOPAUSEAbstract
Hormone replacement therapy in menopause has been extensively used in the last 25 years of 20th Century. Prescription was based on the benefits showed at the cardiovascular and skeletal levels as well as at different cognitive functions that justified the higher breast cancer risk seen during menopause. However, the last randomized clinical studies to assess actual benefits of hormone therapy had cut out promises about cardiovascular prevention and cognitive functions, confirming the higher risk of breast cancer. Relation risk-benefit was inverted and prescriptions and mercantilization all over the world decreased. The paper analiyses these changes, promotes results and criticizes pharmacological interventions.
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