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medpundit |
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Wednesday, March 03, 2004The estrogen-alone study found an increased risk of stroke similar to what was found in the earlier study - eight more strokes per year per 10,000 women on the hormone, according to a statement released by the NIH. However, women taking only estrogen had fewer hip fractures; no numbers were released. The news release from the NIH can be found here. You can bet that there will be yet more attempts at class action lawsuits against estrogen based on this study. The problem is, there are a lot of elderly women out there who have been taking estrogen replacement therapy and who have had strokes. But chances are that the majority of those strokes weren't caused by estrogen, but by aging blood vessels. Not when the increase in risk is only 0.08%. I've been seeing a number of women lately who come in after reading ads from attorneys urging women to call if they've been on estrogen and progesterone and have had a heart attack or a stroke. Even if my patients have had neither, they're convinced that taking their hormone replacement therapy means that they will. They figure if the evidence is good enough to support a lawsuit, then it must mean that strokes and heart attacks are inevitable on hormone replacement therapy. And it makes doctors reluctant to prescribe the drugs, even when patients ask for them. Even when the risks, however minimal, are discussed. The same strategy being used by class-action lawyers will be the same strategies used by malpractice lawyers. It's a pity, because what the study is really saying is that these hormones don't protect against these diseases as we once thought they did. The hormones do have risks, as does every drug, natural and non-natural, but they also have their uses. They're the only effective treatment we have for hot flashes and vaginal dryness. It would be a shame if doctors decided it was no longer worth the risk to prescribe the drugs or pharmaceutical companies that it's no longer worth the risk to manufacture them. The litigation risk, that is. posted by Sydney on 3/03/2004 07:32:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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