Spanish post-menopausal women's viewpoints on hormone therapy.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to identify women's socio-demographic and climacteric factors, as well as other variables related to health care, associated with the prescription of the treatment during menopause and to investigate the prevalence of certain conditioning factors in early discontinuation in women aged 40-65 years in a population of post-menopausal women in Spain.


METHODS
Cross-sectional survey.


METHODS
Four of the most inhabited cities in Spain (Madrid, Barcelona, Seville and Valencia).


METHODS
A total of 270 symptomatic post-menopausal women.


METHODS
A personal interview with a semi-structured questionnaire specifically designed to collect information on treatments for climacteric-related complaints.


METHODS
The reasons for HRT, the evaluation of alternative therapies, the reasons for choosing one therapy or another and reasons for discontinuation.


RESULTS
Of all the subjects included, 180 were still taking any type of treatment and 90 were former HRT users or had never used HRT. Among the latter, 43% of women expressed fear of the side effects and 38% gave the risk of breast cancer as the main reason for not using HRT. Of them, 58% receive phytoestrogens. Media and negative data from medical journals influenced this attitude in 67% of the women. On the other hand, only 9.4% of HRT users were reluctant to receive the therapy and the main reasons for maintaining HRT were its efficacy against climacteric symptoms, medical prescription and life quality.


CONCLUSIONS
Side effects and fear of cancer were the most common reasons for not using HRT; and medical prescription, symptomatic improvement and quality of life were the main reasons for using it. Negative data from journals have an important effect on women's attitudes to HRT.
Castelo-Branco
Camil
C
Gynecology, Obstetrics and Neonatology Institute (ICGON), Hospital Clínic Barcelona, Faculty of Medicine, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. castelo@sego.es
Ferrer
Javier
J
Palacios
Santiago
S
Cornago
Sonia
S
Peralta
Sara
S
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D015914:Estrogen Replacement Therapy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010349:Patient Compliance; D017698:Postmenopause; D015995:Prevalence; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires