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    Monday, February 26, 2007

    Safer than Pills: Do you suffer from hot flashes but fear the side effects of hormone replacement therapy? The Associated Press says that an estrogen patch may be just the thing for you:

    French study gives hope to menopausal women

    HORMONE PATCHES, GELS APPEAR LESS RISKY THAN PILLS


    But wait. Women eschew the pill because of the risk of heart disease and breast cancer, but those disease have not been studied with the patch:

    Patches and gels already are known to be effective for relieving the hot flashes and sleep-interrupting night sweats that plague many women. No one knows whether they will prove safer than pills in terms of breast cancer, heart attack or stroke risk.

    Oh, well, then. Never mind.

    The story actually centers around a decreased risk for blood clots in the veins among patch users:

    The study tested Wyeth's Prempro and Premarin, which contain synthetic estrogens made from the urine of pregnant horses. Some people believe that estrogens from plant sources are closer to what the human body naturally produces and may be safer. The plant forms are in many competitors' pills and also in patches, creams and gels.

    The French researchers compared 271 women ages 45 to 70 who suffered blood clots to 610 similar women without clots. Women taking various hormone pills were more than four times more likely to suffer clots than women not taking hormones or receiving them through patches, gels or creams.


    We already know that hormone pills have a high risk for venous blood clots. We even know the incidence rate. A better study would follow a large population of women on the hormone patch for several years, determine the incidence of blood clots, and compare it to the known incidence with hormone pills.

    The study is a work in progress whose results remain to be determined.
     

    posted by Sydney on 2/26/2007 08:30:00 AM 0 comments

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