UCL Discovery

Abstract

Objectives: To ascertain the prevalence and duration of use of hormone replacement therapy by menopausal women doctors. Design: Postal questionnaire. Setting: General practices in the United Kingdom. Subjects: Randomised stratified sample of women doctors who obtained full registration between 1952 and 1976, taken from the current principal list of the Medical Register. Main outcome measures: Prevalence and duration of use of hormone replacement therapy; menopausal status. Results: Overall, 45.7% (436/954) of women doctors aged between 45 and 65 years had ever used hormone replacement therapy. When the results from women still menstruating regularly were excluded, 55.2% (428) were ever users and 41.2% (319) current users. The cumulative probability of remaining on hormone replacement therapy was 0.707 at five years and 0.576 at 10 years. Conclusions: Women doctors have a higher prevalence of use of hormone replacement therapy than has been reported for other women in the United Kingdom, and most users seem to be taking hormone replacement therapy for more than five years. The results may become generalisable to the wider population as information on the potential benefits of hormone replacement therapy is disseminated. Key messages Key messages Over half of women starting hormone replacement therapy may be expected to continue the treatment for 10 years or more A considerable number of women will be unlikely to take up hormone replacement therapy in the absence of full evaluation of benefit and risk Full evaluation will require randomised controlled trials.