Manufacturing heterosexuality: hormone replacement therapy and menopause in urban Oaxaca

For several decades, hormone replacement therapies have been prescribed to women, not only to prevent disease but to improve the sexual functioning of menopausal women. The medical promotion of continued sexual activity in a woman's post-reproductive years is exported to locations outside of North America and Europe, which provides an opportunity to critically examine the cultural roots that have informed expert biomedical representations. This ethnographic study examined menopause and social class in Oaxaca de Juarez, Mexico using interviews, questionnaires, and textual analysis. The research found that biomedicine in conjunction with the pharmaceutical industry promoted culturally constructed gender hierarchies under the guise of optimal menopausal health. However, women's actual experience of gender and sexuality in mid-life diverged significantly from these expert representations. Themes that emerged in interviews and questionnaires included the importance of motherhood in old age, diminished sexual desire as not problematic, and greater sexual freedom at a post-reproductive age. Ultimately, biomedical discourse was not the sole arbiter of appropriate menopausal womanhood and femininity.     

绝经相关激素补充治疗的适应证及历史发展

在生殖系统之外,雌激素对女性全身多个系统具有广泛的作用。绝经后雌激素缺乏导致围绝经期症状及某些老年慢性疾病风险增加,激素补充治疗(hormone replacement therapy,HRT)的利弊关系不断被修正。目前的证据表明,在"治疗窗口期"启动,并按照规范合理使用HRT,掌握适应证、禁忌证和慎用情况是利大于弊的。现今中国绝经后女性人口众多,但对HRT的知晓率很低,宣传普及绝经知识、探索更加安全的HRT方案将是广大妇产科同道不懈努力的方向。     

Advances in hormone replacement therapy: making the menopause manageable

The importance of the results of some large, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) has modified the risk/benefit perception of HRT. Recent literature review supports a different management. The differences in age at initiation and the duration of HRT are key points. HRT appears to decrease coronary disease in younger women, near menopause; yet, in older women, HRT increases risk of a coronary event. Although HRT is a recognized method in the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis, it is not licensed for the prevention of osteoporosis as a first-line treatment. The effectiveness of low and ultra-low estrogen doses has been demonstrated for the treatment of vasomotor symptoms, genital atrophy and the prevention of bone loss, with fewer side-effects than the standard dose therapy. Further research, however, is needed to determine the effect both on fractures, as well as on cardiovascular and breast diseases. Newer progestins show effects that are remarkably different from those of other assays. The effectiveness of testosterone at improving both sexual desire and response in surgically and naturally postmenopausal women is shown by the testosterone patch. The intention, dose and regimen of HRT need to be individualized, based on the principle of choosing the lowest appropriate dose in relation to the severity of symptoms and the time and menopause age.     

围绝经期妇女就诊及激素替代治疗态度调查

目的了解广东省围绝经期妇女的医疗保健行为，为有针对性地开展更年期预防保健工作提供依据。方法对广东省珠江三角地区、山区、东西两翼地区的地市级、县级的围绝经期妇女4489人进行问卷调查，用SPSS软件进行分析。结果我省围绝经期妇女有更年期症状的比例较高，但自我保健意识薄弱，就诊率仅为19．9％，其中36．2％的妇女就诊于内科，34.1％的妇女就诊于中医科，仅20．3％的妇女就诊于妇产科；在被调查人群中使用激素替代(HRT)治疗的比例仅1．496；围绝经期妇女的医疗保健行为受文化程度、职业、经济发展、是否绝经及不同地域等因素的影响。结论需要进一步提高围绝经期妇女的自我保健意识，尤其要加强对农村、山区等地围绝经期妇女健康教育。     

微量激素替代与抗抑郁药物治疗妇女更年期症状及情感障碍的临床对比

目的:激素替代治疗与抗抑郁药物对更年期症状和情感障碍的疗效对比研究。方法:共90例门诊就诊的表现中度以上更年期症状合并情感障碍的病人,分为激素替代治疗组、舍曲林治疗组和安慰剂对照组,结果对比研究的评定方法采用症状自评法、综合医院焦虑/抑郁(HAD)情绪测定量表和汉密尔顿-抑郁量表。结果:更年期血管运动症状比较,雌激素治疗组明显好于抗抑郁药组,雌激素对抑郁及焦虑症状有部分缓解,治疗前后有显著差异,但抗抑郁药物治疗组明显好于雌激素治疗组。结论:抗抑郁药物对更年期症状及所合并的情感症状有明显疗效。     

Uncertainty in medicine: meanings of menopause and hormone replacement therapy in medical textbooks

Menopause is understood, portrayed, and experienced in diverse ways. The dominant biomedical perspective medicalizes menopause as a biological 'hormone deficiency' requiring 'treatment' with hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Alternative perspectives view menopause as discursively located within particular socio-historical times and places, or privilege women's embodied experiences of menopause. We argue that the meanings of menopause and HRT should be debated within a context where the biological and the social, or the body and culture, intersect. The present study examined international medical student textbooks as sites of current biomedical knowledge, communicated for a new generation of health professionals. We undertook a Foucauldian discourse analysis on eight widely-used, international medical textbooks across physiology, pathology and pharmacology subject areas to identify the ways in which menopause and HRT are portrayed. Our results showed that menopause continues to be represented through dominant culturally infused 'failure' discourses and is portrayed as a 'precursor to disease' with HRT as the treatment. However, this knowledge is somewhat destabilized by a discourse of 'uncertainty and speculation' regarding the physiology of menopause and the potential effects of HRT. Knowledge about menopause, osteoporosis, and HRT was constructed as tentative, but the 'quest' for new knowledge was constructed as on the verge of 'exciting discoveries'. We argue that bio-social understandings of menopause and HRT, and their medical uncertainties, need to be addressed in medical curricula to ensure that doctors engage with midlife women in appropriate and positive ways, especially given the increased call for women's involvement in decision-making at this time.     

The menopause and hormone replacement therapy: Australian general practitioners' self-reported opinions, attitudes and behaviour

OBJECTIVES: We describe the attitude and views of general practitionerstowards the menopause and hormone replacement therapy (HRT)in metropolitan Brisbane, Australia. METHODS: A total of 216 general practitioners were nominated by a randomsample of urban-dwelling women aged 45–54 years who formedthe Brisbane Women's health study. A 20–30 minute face-to-facequestionnaire with the general practitioners was administeredand analysed by demographic characteristics. RESULTS: There was a 93% response rate. Management of the menopause andHRT was routinely undertaken by general practitioners for theirown patients. After deciding to in itiate HRT, >60% of generalpractitioners ordered five investigations or more. They mayhave confused the risk of thrombo-embolism from oestrogens usedin the post-menopause with that for contraception. There weredifferences between male and female practitioners in some areas.Male general practitioners, in particular, reported more difficultywith tailoring and adjusting regimes. CONCLUSIONS: Specific areas for further education are explored to meet theeducational needs of general practitioners. Keywords. Hormone replacement therapy, menopause, diagnostic tests, routine delivery of health care, family practice.     

Menopause and hormone replacement therapy

Due to the improving life expectancy of women spend third of their active life after the menopause. Estrogen deficiency can be caused by both natural and artificial menopause. The lack of estrogen can directly worsen the quality of life and epidemiological evidence suggests association with development of certain diseased states. Hormone replacement with natural estrogens has been proven to be successful for various indications: it reduces the menopausal vasomotor and psychological symptoms thus improving quality of life. It can also be used to prevent harmful effects of estrogen deficiency in various organs. Literature review supports the role of estrogen in atherosclerosis and osteoporosis prevention. Further evidence required establishing the role of estrogens in secondary prevention of coronary artery disease. Also needs to be explained why the beneficial effects of estrogen therapy in osteoporosis seem to disappear soon after cessation of therapy. Currently the relative risk increase of breast cancer during long-term hormone replacement therapy cannot be exactly measured. Nevertheless, substantial reduction of mortality in estrogen receptor positive breast cancer can also be seen with women on hormone replacement as compared to controls. Some data support the negative correlation of residual but still detectable, endogen estrogen and atherosclerosis and similarly to osteoporosis. The same residual estrogen levels seem to correlate positively with breast cancer. The recognition (and further acceptance) of the role of the residual estrogens might have influence on the indication, choice and dosage of preparation and duration of hormone replacement therapy. Overall evidence is in favor of the need medical attention for menopause: which ranges from preventive screening to long term hormone replacement therapy. The decision to treat requires the risks and benefits taken into consideration. This highly specialized care is provided in menopause clinics in Hungary. New oestrogen like agents are being developed like the selective estrogen receptor modulators, the tibolone and the phyto-estrogens. They provide tissue-specific effect acting as estrogen agonistics, sustaining the beneficial preventive and therapeutic effects of the estrogens, but in the breast and endometrial tissue they behave like estrogen antagonists avoiding the side effects of the current used oestrogens. They might play a significant role in the treatment of menopause in the future.     

Menopausal hormone replacement therapy

In this paper, the evolution of postmenopausal hormone replacement is reviewed, with an evidence-based approach and particular emphasis on the Heart and Estrogen/Progestin Replacement Study and Women's Health Initiative reports. This therapy will continue to evolve and have pertinence for women with menopausal symptoms and for osteoporosis prevention in selected patients.     

Use of hormone replacement therapy by Melbourne women

Abstract: Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is used for relief of symptoms related to the menopause and for the prevention of postmenopausal osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease. Patterns of use of HRT are thought to be changing rapidly, but little is known about who is using the therapy, for what purpose or for what period of time. Telephone interviews were conducted in May 1991 with a randomly selected sample of 2001 Australian-born women aged 45 to 55 years living in Melbourne, as part of the Melbourne Women's Midlife Health Project. Questions related to use of HRT, health status, use of health services, sexual functioning, attitudes to menopause and aging, and sociodemographic characteristics. Twenty-one per cent of the sample were using HRT. Use was more prevalent among women 50 years and over (28 per cent) than those under 50 (15 per cent). Seventeen per cent of nonhysterectomised women, 31 per cent of hysterectomised women and 49 per cent of women who had undergone hysterectomy and bilateral oophorectomy were current users. Almost 60 per cent had been using the therapy for two years or less, and 34 per cent for one year or less. Just over half reported control of hot flushes as a benefit, and 10 per cent mentioned prevention of bone loss as a benefit Logistic regression analysis identified differences between users and nonusers in experience of hot flushes, health status, use of preventive and treatment services, sexual functioning, wellbeing, attitudes to menopause and aging, and sociodemographic characteristics. These differences may relate to risk of later cardiovascular disease.     

心血管疾病与激素补充疗法

绝经后妇女体内雌激素水平下降对高血压、高血脂、肥胖的发生有负面影响,而这些都是心血管疾病(Cardiovascular diseases,CVD)发生的风险因素。雌激素通过改善血管功能、胆固醇水平、血糖代谢、血压以及保护心肌的作用,具有潜在改善CVD风险的作用。激素补充疗法(Hormone replacement therapy,HRT)能有效治疗绝经相关症状,绝经后妇女HRT不适于作为CVD的一级和二级预防。但是,如果在围绝经期和绝经后早期对有绝经症状的中年妇女使用HRT,会形成一个对心血管有保护作用的"时间窗"。     

Medical issues and hormone replacement therapy

The debate surrounding postmenopausal hormone replacement therapy (HRT) has become more contentious in the past decade. The relationship between HRT and venous thrombotic events has been confirmed, although the absolute risk is small. Evidence of a relationship between breast cancer and HRT is stronger. Randomized controlled trials reveal an association with cardiovascular events in women with known heart disease, a possibly diminished overall quality of life due to HRT, and worsening of urinary incontinence. There is also some evidence associating HRT with ovarian cancer. However, longitudinal studies continue to demonstrate over the long term that HRT use is associated with fewer cardiovascular events and a reduced risk of developing dementia. Future studies may show that a lower daily dose of HRT can reduce the risks while still providing benefit.