Most Women Unaware of Hormone Replacement Study

"The unanswered question is, 'How many women who need to know the information now do not have it?' " said Parker, who is also clinical professor of ob-gyn, University of California, Los Angeles, School of Medicine.

If a woman is not at the point where she has to make a decision about hormone therapy, he said, it would not jeopardize her care if she was unaware of the study and its findings and didn't have a conversation with her physician.

In his own practice, Parker said, "If a woman is, say, age 48, and comes in, says she is having occasional hot flashes but is still having periods, I tell her, 'Let's have a conversation when you need it, because this information changes so quickly.' " Since the original WHI results were released in 2002, numerous re-analyses have been done of the study to confirm or negate the original findings, he noted.

Unless a woman needs the information immediately, Parker reasoned, the office visit time would probably be better spent on other concerns or preventive health.

The study was funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare. The pharmaceutical company was interested in the data due to its black cohosh product for menopausal symptom relief, Stafford said.

More information

To learn more about the Women's Health Initiative, visit the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

SOURCES: Randall Stafford, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor, medicine, Stanford Prevention Research Center, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif.; William Parker, M.D., staff gynecologist and past chair of obstetrics and gynecology, Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center and Orthopaedic Hospital, Santa Monica, Calif., and clinical professor, ob-gyn, University of California, Los Angeles, School of Medicine; September/October 2007,Menopause