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Long-term impact of the women’s health initiative on HRT

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Abstract

Objective

To evaluate the long-term trends in the HRT following the results of the WHI, which were made public in July 2002.

Study design

An observational cohort study was performed from prescription data of estrogen containing products ordered from Tripler Army Medical Center between July 1999 and July 2005. We used automated pharmacy data to identify all estrogen products dispensed to active duty soldiers, dependent wives, and retirees during the study period. Differences in prescription rate were compared between groups using a Student’s t-test.

Results

A total of 71,592 prescriptions were written for HRT. Prescriptions decreased from 1,272/month at the start of the study to 493/month at the conclusion of the study. Prior to July 2002 OBGYNs were the first to decrease their prescribing rate of estrogen, and this decrease was greater than other specialties analyzed. The frequency of HRT prescriptions decreased after July 2002 while the percentage of patients who filled HRT prescriptions increased from 68 to 72%.

Conclusions

We have found a significant decrease in prescriptions after release of the WHI initiative results. With this decrease in prescribing rate of HRT we found that a greater percentage of women actually filled their prescriptions perhaps indicating greater certainty in their choice.

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Abbreviations

WHI:

Women’s health initiative

HRT:

Hormone replacement therapy

OB/GYN:

Obstetrician gynecologist

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Womack Army Community Hospital, Fort Bragg, NC, USA

    Lynn Parente

  2. Department of Clinical Investigations, Tripler Army Medical Center, Honolulu, HI, 96859, USA

    Catherine Uyehara

  3. William Beaumont Army Medical Center, Fort Bliss, TX, USA

    Wilma Larsen

  4. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Tripler Army Medical Center, Honolulu, HI, 96859, USA

    Bradford Whitcomb

  5. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, 4301 Jones Bridge Road, Bethesda, MD, 20832, USA

    John Farley

Authors
  1. Lynn Parente
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  2. Catherine Uyehara
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  3. Wilma Larsen
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  4. Bradford Whitcomb
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  5. John Farley
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to John Farley.

Additional information

The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy or opinion of the Department of Defense or the United States Army or Navy.

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Parente, L., Uyehara, C., Larsen, W. et al. Long-term impact of the women’s health initiative on HRT. Arch Gynecol Obstet 277, 219–224 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-007-0442-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-007-0442-1

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