Women's rights activists yesterday slammed local doctors and health departments for "glossing over" the risks attached to hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in the wake of last week's release of findings from a US study.
"After the findings were released, local doctors and medical societies failed to give proper explanations to the public. They just tried to gloss over the potential risks associated with HRT by saying that cases in the US are different from those in Taiwan because we have different cultures and diets," said Huang Hsu-ying (黃淑英), chairwoman of the League of Taiwan Women (LTW, 台灣女人連線).
HRT is when either an estrogen or a combination of estrogen and progestin medication is prescribed to relieve menopause symptoms like hot flashes, disturbed sleeping patterns, mood swings, and vaginal dryness.
LTW and the Taipei Association for the Promotion of Women's Rights (TAPWR,
They also urged Taiwanese researchers to investigate the effects of HRT on Taiwanese women as soon as possible.
Questions about HRT were sparked by a recent US study released on July 9, linking HRT to the increased incidence of breast cancer, heart disease, and strokes.
The study, a major clinical trial carried out by the US National Institutes of Health on the risks and benefits of HRT in healthy menopausal women -- was aborted after it uncovered a substantially increased risk of strokes, heart attacks and cancer for users of the medication.
The research found that, although HRT lowered the risk of osteoporosis and colon cancer, the number of strokes increased by 41 percent, heart attacks by 29 percent and breast cancer by 26 percent. Over 16,000 women participated in the trial.
Following the announcement of the US findings, the Taiwanese Menopausal Society (台灣更年期醫學會, TMS), Taiwan's primary menopause-focused medical society, released a statement on July 10 saying that people should not panic about the risks of breast cancer from HRT. The medical society is comprised of a group of academic doctors who carry out research in the field of menopause study.
TMS said that the average age of women participating in the trial was 64 and that incidences of breast cancer among Western women peak between the ages of 60 and 65, while in Taiwan the peak age for contracting breast cancer is 48.
TMS also said that differences in the diet and lifestyles of US and Taiwanese women may result in HRT having different effects on the two groups, and stressed that HRT was still the most appropriate short-term (less than five years) treatment for menopausal symptoms.
But Tsai Wan-fen (蔡婉芬), the general secretary of TAPWR, said: "We wonder why [Taiwan's medical societies] choose to ignore the findings of the US study. Are they deliberately avoiding the issue of HRT risks in order to profit the drug companies?"
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