To Örebro University

Östrogen mot klimakteriebesvär är effektivt, men passar inte alltid. Därför utvärderas nu alternativ. Naturmedel användsav många kvinnor, men det finns idag inga vetenskapliga belägg för att de har någon verkan. Försök med avslappning oc hakupunktur har däremot gett lovande resultat. Män medsvettningar och vallningar har hittills bara behandlats med hormonliknande ämnen, med goda resultat.

To chart current and previous use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and alternative remedies in a postmenopausal population, in relation to previous oral contraceptive (OC) usage, all 1,323 55-56-year-old women living in Linköping in 1995 were sent a questionnaire concerning health status and climacteric symptoms, and previous and/or current use of HRT, OCs and alternative remedies. Current HRT was more common among previous OC users than among those who had never used OCs (41.4 vs. 23.1 percent). As compared with non-HRT users, HRT users were characterised by greater physical activity but less strenuous occupations, and a higher prevalence of hysterectomy. Of the series as a whole, 35 per cent were currently on HRT, half of them having been so for at least two years, and only 5 per cent had abandoned HRT after trying it for some time. Alternative remedies were used by 5 per cent of the women as therapy for climacteric complaints, but about four times as many women had tried such therapy and abandoned it. The sole characteristic feature of alternative remedy usage was that it was less common among hysterectomised women. Of women treated for breast cancer, none used HRT and few used alternative remedies. Thus, in this postmenopausal population, the prevalence of HRT was high, as was the level of compliance. Previous OC usage was probably a determinant of current attitudes toward HRT.