2002 HRT Study Drove 22% to 5% Use, Fueling Dementia Fears for Women
Updated
Updated · The Washington Post · Nov 3
2002 HRT Study Drove 22% to 5% Use, Fueling Dementia Fears for Women
2 articles · Updated · The Washington Post · Nov 3
Summary
A former Bloomberg and Wall Street Journal reporter argues her mother’s memory decline may trace back to quitting estradiol in 2004 after the Women’s Health Initiative’s 2002 hormone-therapy findings triggered widespread alarm.
The case centers on a key distinction: her mother had a hysterectomy, so she used estrogen-only therapy, while the headline WHI study that spooked patients focused on estrogen plus progestin and emphasized relative risks.
Use of hormone replacement therapy among postmenopausal women fell from about 22% before the WHI report to 12% in 2003-04 and 5% by 2010, after boxed warnings and follow-up reports on dementia and stroke deepened fears.
Recent guidance from two major U.S. medical groups again recommends hormone therapy for many menopausal women, and newer studies — including August Stanford research — link estrogen-only treatment to lower Alzheimer’s and dementia risk.
The author says the science remains unsettled, but the stakes are broad: roughly 500,000 U.S. women undergo hysterectomies each year, and more than 500,000 Americans are diagnosed with dementia annually, most of them women.