title: Trends of postmenopausal estrogen plus progestin prevalence in the United States between 1970 and 2010.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To estimate long term trends in estrogen-progestin prevalence for the U.S. female population by year and age.
  
  
  METHODS
  We integrated data on oral estrogen-progestin use from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999-2010 with data from the National Prescription Audit 1970-2003. Distributions of estrogen-progestin by age from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey were applied to the prescription data, and calibration and interpolation procedures were used to generate estrogen-progestin prevalence estimates by single year of age and single calendar year for 1970-2010.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Estimated prevalence of oral estrogen-progestin was below 0.5% in the 1970s, began to rise in the early 1980s, and almost tripled between 1990 and the late 1990s. The age-adjusted prevalence for women aged 45-64 years peaked at 13.5% in 1999 with highest use among 57-year-old women (23.2%). Prevalence of estrogen-progestin use declined dramatically in the early 2000s with only 2.7% of women aged 45-64 years using estrogen-progestin in 2010, which is comparable to prevalence levels in the mid-1980s.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The dramatic rise and fall of estrogen-progestin use over the past 40 years provides an illuminating case study of prescription practices before, during, and after the development of evidence regarding benefits and harms.
  
  
  METHODS
  : II.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Population Health Sciences and Biostatistics and Medical Informatics, University of Wisconsin, and the University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center, Madison, Wisconsin; and the Department of Surgery and Vermont Cancer Center, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont.
authors.forename: Patricia I
authors.initials: PI
authors.lastname: Jewett
authors.forename: Ronald E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Gangnon
authors.forename: Amy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Trentham-Dietz
authors.forename: Brian L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Sprague
mesh_terms: D016208:Databases, Factual; D004338:Drug Combinations; D004363:Drug Utilization / Q000639:trends*; D015914:Estrogen Replacement Therapy / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D020249:Hormone Replacement Therapy / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009749:Nutrition Surveys; D017698:Postmenopause / Q000187:drug effects*; D015995:Prevalence; D011372:Progestins / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014481:United States
chemical_list: D004338:Drug Combinations; D011372:Progestins