Latest news with #hormonereplacementtherapy
Fox News
7 days ago
- Health
- Fox News
Menopause: Why Women Shouldn't Suffer In Silence
Martha puts menopause in the spotlight today. FOX News contributor and board-certified radiologist, Dr. Nicole Saphier, explains the false narrative surrounding treatments for menopause, including the risks of hormone replacement therapy, and why women have an outdated concept of proper treatments. Dr. Saphier takes a deeper dive into the commonly asked questions about breast cancer prevention and menopause, explaining why women shouldn't suffer in silence but rather advocate for their health and happiness throughout the aging process. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit
South China Morning Post
19-07-2025
- Health
- South China Morning Post
The anti-ageing benefits of HRT, from collagen production to better brain and heart health
Dr Sue Jamieson remembers when the famous Women's Health Initiative (WHI) study on hormone replacement therapy, or HRT, was published. 'I was in New Mexico on holiday and caught this on the news,' says Jamieson, a Hong Kong-based specialist in integrative and functional medicine. 'I was so horrified that I might be endangering my patients' health. I sent all those on hormones an email asking them to stop it.' The study, published more than 20 years ago , was hugely damning of HRT, suggesting it caused a 26 per cent increased risk of breast cancer, a 29 per cent increased risk of heart disease and a 41 per cent increased risk of stroke. Many doctors stopped prescribing it, women's fears soared , and the US Food and Drug Administration added prominent warnings to hormone therapy products to highlight the increased risks of cardiovascular events such as heart attack, stroke and blood clots, as well as breast cancer. Sue Jamieson was among the first doctors in Hong Kong to prescribe HRT. Photo: Dr Sue Jamieson The study was found to be flawed. Based on research since, and the development of bioidentical hormones – which are chemically the same as natural hormones and safer than the older synthetic oestradiol (E2), which Jamieson describes as an 'aggressive' form of oestrogen – attitudes towards HRT have evolved.
South China Morning Post
19-07-2025
- Health
- South China Morning Post
The anti-ageing benefits of HRT, from collagen production to better brain and heart health
Dr Sue Jamieson remembers when the famous Women's Health Initiative (WHI) study on hormone replacement therapy, or HRT, was published. 'I was in New Mexico on holiday and caught this on the news,' says Jamieson, a Hong Kong-based specialist in integrative and functional medicine. 'I was so horrified that I might be endangering my patients' health. I sent all those on hormones an email asking them to stop it.' The study, published more than 20 years ago , was hugely damning of HRT, suggesting it caused a 26 per cent increased risk of breast cancer, a 29 per cent increased risk of heart disease and a 41 per cent increased risk of stroke. Many doctors stopped prescribing it, women's fears soared , and the US Food and Drug Administration added prominent warnings to hormone therapy products to highlight the increased risks of cardiovascular events such as heart attack, stroke and blood clots, as well as breast cancer. Sue Jamieson was among the first doctors in Hong Kong to prescribe HRT. Photo: Dr Sue Jamieson The study was found to be flawed. Based on research since, and the development of bioidentical hormones – which are chemically the same as natural hormones and safer than the older synthetic oestradiol (E2), which Jamieson describes as an 'aggressive' form of oestrogen – attitudes towards HRT have evolved.
Telegraph
17-07-2025
- Health
- Telegraph
US could scrap health warnings on HRT
The US could scrap warnings on hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in a major shake-up of the treatment for menopause. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is convening a panel on Thursday afternoon, featuring several proponents of the therapy, to discuss whether federal guidelines overstate the risk to women. Currently, HRT and other treatments that use oestrogen warn that it could increase the risk of strokes, blood clots, dementia and breast cancer, and should not be used to prevent cardiovascular disease or dementia. However, Marty Makary, the head of the FDA, has claimed the risks of the treatment – used for hot flushes and other menopausal symptoms – are exaggerated and that its benefits are 'overwhelming'. 'For decades, hormone replacement therapy for women … has helped women alleviate the symptoms of menopause, including hot flushes, dryness, mood swings, weight gain and poor sleep quality, to name a few,' Dr Makary said. When treatment begins 10 years ahead of the menopause, HRT could reduce the risk of cognitive decline and Alzheimer's and prevent osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease, he added. No opportunity for public comment Dr Makary blamed declining use of HRT on a clinical trial in the early 2000s – halted after recording increased risks of breast cancer and strokes – which he said had not been replicated in later studies. He has previously claimed on a podcast there is 'no medication that improves the health outcomes of a population' apart from antibiotics. The issue is still controversial in the medical community, however. Critics said the panel includes a number of physicians who agree with Dr Makary's stance on HRT, and does not have the opportunity for public comment, according to The New York Times. 'This is not like any other public meeting held by the FDA in the past,' said Diana Zuckerman, president of the National Centre for Health Research think tank. 'No one in the audience is being allowed to speak. No one can ask questions,' she continued, saying most participants had a positive view of hormone therapy. 'Menopause should not be medicalised' The description of the event on the FDA website reads: 'Hormone replacement therapy has long been an important treatment option for women to alleviate symptoms of menopause, among other potential health benefits. 'Over the last two decades, however, HRT has been surrounded by confusing narratives about potential risks.' Earlier this week, the American Journal of Physicians published an editorial concluding HRT brought limited benefits and significant harms. 'Menopause is a positive life experience for many women and should not be medicalised,' its authors wrote.
Daily Mail
01-07-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
Drug taken by millions of women could raise breast cancer risk in young women, study finds
Giving younger women certain types of hormone replacement therapy could raise their breast cancer risk, concerning research today suggested. The treatment, also known as HRT, was first linked to the disease more than two decades ago, with debate about its safety causing confusion and concern for millions of women ever since. Most studies examining the risk have been explored in older women, who take it to help menopause symptoms. In the young it is often taken after gynaecological surgery or during perimenopause. But US scientists have now discovered that oestrogen plus synthetic progesterone HRT increased the risk of breast cancer in women under 55 by a tenth. Yet, oestrogen HRT alone appeared to decrease the risk by almost a sixth. Experts today, who labelled the findings important, said they should now influence a clinician's decision whether to prescribing the drug to certain women is the best course of action. They did, however, caution that the risk of developing breast cancer due to HRT remains 'small' and is 'outweighed by the benefits'. Writing in the prestigious journal Lancet Oncology, scientists at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, based in North Carolina, said: 'The findings can be used to augment clinical recommendations for hormone therapy use in young women, for whom guidance was previously scarce. They added: 'Oestrogen [only] hormone therapy use appears to decrease breast cancer risk and oestrogen plus progesterone appears to increase breast cancer risk.' Back in 2018, fewer than 1.3 million NHS patients were being prescribed HRT, a safe and cheap medicine proven to effectively combat the most debilitating menopause symptoms. Today this figure has doubled, with about 2.6 million women now on the medication, which replenishes the female sex hormones oestrogen and progesterone that are lost during the menopause. There are different types of HRT available which contain different hormones—some are oestrogen alone, others contain progestogen while a third type contains both—and can be taken in the form of gels, patches or pills. Previous research has suggested women who have already been through the menopause have an increased risk of breast cancer taking oestrogen plus progesterone HRT, due to longer exposure to the hormone. In the fresh study, scientists examined data drawn from previous studies of 459,476 women aged 16 to 54 years old. Two per cent of this group (8,455) developed young-onset breast cancer, which means the disease was diagnosed before they were 55 years old. Some 15 per cent of women involved in the study reported using HRT, with oestrogen plus progestin HRT and oestrogen HRT being the most common types. They found that oestrogen appeared to reduce the risk of young breast cancer by 14 per cent while oestrogen plus progestin therapy increased risk by 10 per cent. Responding to the findings, Dr Kotryna Temcinaite, head of research communications at the charity Breast Cancer Now, said: 'This large scale study offers useful insights for women aged under 55. 'These results are largely in line with what we already know about taking HRT for menopausal symptoms and its effects on breast cancer risk—for most people, the risk of developing breast cancer because of taking HRT is small and is outweighed by the benefits. 'The risk is higher the longer you take it, and the risk is higher with combined HRT compared to oestrogen-only HRT. 'Taking HRT is a very personal decision and, as such, it's vital that everyone has the information they need on the benefits and risks, discusses them with their GP or specialist team and is supported to make the choice that's right for them.' Separate research has previously linked HRT tablets—which are less commonly used in the UK—with an increased risk of blood clots and strokes. One in seven women in the UK are diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime around 56,000 a year—making it the most common cancer in the UK. The figure stands at roughly 300,000 annually in the US. Around 85 per cent of women diagnosed with breast cancer survive more than five years. Earlier this year, however, a shock NHS survey found women are avoiding mammograms because they are worried about being topless, think it will hurt, or haven't found a lump. Figures show that currently a third of women asked for screening do not attend. That rises to almost half of women who are invited for the first time.
