PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

For women with hysterectomies, estrogen may be a lifesaver after all

2013-07-19
(Press-News.org) VIDEO: Estrogen therapy has been widely misunderstood, and may offer important benefits to women in their 50s who have had a hysterectomy.
Click here for more information.

The widespread rejection of estrogen therapy after the 2002 Women's Health Initiative (WHI) study has most likely led to almost 50,000 unnecessary deaths over the last 10 years among women aged 50 to 69 who have had a hysterectomy, Yale School of Medicine researchers reveal in a study published in the July 18 issue of the American Journal of Public Health.

Led by Philip Sarrel, M.D., emeritus professor in the Departments of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences, and Psychiatry, the researchers analyzed United States census data, hysterectomy rates, and estimates of decline in hormone use in women aged 50 to 59 between 2002 and 2011.

Before 2002, it was standard practice for doctors to recommend estrogen therapy for this slice of the population, and more than 90% of these women used it to treat symptoms such as hot flashes, and to prevent osteoporosis and other diseases related to menopausal hormone deficiency. Today, about 10% of these women use estrogen.

This sharp decline in estrogen usage was linked to results from one part of the large, federally funded WHI study in 2002. Women and their doctors became frightened of the dangers of post-menopausal hormones. But according to Sarrel and his colleagues, this was a report about women with a uterus, who took pills that combined estrogen and a progestin. Women who have a uterus must take a second hormone (a progestin) to avoid a risk of uterine cancer. But these results did not apply to women with no uterus who use estrogen-only therapy.

"Sadly, the media, women, and health care providers did not appreciate the difference between the two kinds of hormone therapy," Sarrel said. "As a result, the use of all forms of FDA-approved menopausal hormone therapy declined precipitously."

Sarrel added that for the women taking combined hormone therapy (at least the particular drug, Prempro, used in the WHI study), it was probably a good decision to avoid it because the WHI study showed a significant increase in breast cancer, heart disease, stroke, and blood clots in women who used this drug compared to placebo. However, for the women taking estrogen-only therapy, avoiding treatment does not appear to have been a good decision.

Results from the second part of the WHI study, which followed women who had no uterus and who took either estrogen-only or placebo, were very different. A series of papers published by the WHI between 2004 and 2012 showed that estrogen-only therapy had mostly positive health outcomes. For example, in 2011 and 2012 the WHI reported that women who received estrogen compared to those who received placebo had fewer deaths each year for 10 years and were less likely to develop breast cancer and heart disease. For each of the 10 years the death rate among those not taking estrogen was 13 more per 10,000. Most of these women died from heart disease while breast cancer accounted for almost all the other deaths.

"Estrogen avoidance has resulted in a real cost in women's lives every year for the last 10 years — and the deaths continue," said Sarrel. "We hope this article will stir an overdue debate and raise consciousness about the health benefits of estrogen-only therapy for women in their 50s with no uterus."

INFORMATION:

Other authors on the study are valentine Y. Njike, M.D., Valentina Vinante, M.D., and David L. Katz, M.D. Sarrel is a consultant with Noven Therapeutics.

Citation: American Journal of Public Health (Published online ahead of print July 18, 2013)

END



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Penn researchers help show new way to study and improve catalytic reactions

2013-07-19
Catalysts are everywhere. They make chemical reactions that normally occur at extremely high temperatures and pressures possible within factories, cars and the comparatively balmy conditions within the human body. Developing better catalysts, however, is mainly a hit-or-miss process. Now, a study by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Trieste and Brookhaven National Laboratory has shown a way to precisely design the active elements of a certain class of catalysts, showing which parameters are most critical for improving performance. This ...

Stars' orbital dance reveals a generation gap

2013-07-19
UBC astronomers have used NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to track the orbital motion of 33,000 stars in one of the Galaxy's oldest globular clusters, offering new insights into the formation of the Milky Way. The careful examination of 'cosmic choreography' enabled researchers, for the first time, to link the movement of stars within the cluster to the stars' ages. The study reveals two distinct generations of stars within globular cluster 47 Tucanae, 16,700 light-years from Earth. Photo editors: Images and more information about 47 Tucanae: http://hubblesite.org/news/2013/25 http://hubblesite.org/gallery/album/objects-from/pr1997035c/npp/all/ "When ...

Eczema may play a key role in the development of food allergy in infants, study suggests

2013-07-19
A breakdown of the skin barrier and inflammation in the skin that occurs in eczema could play a key role in triggering food sensitivity in babies, a new study reveals. Scientists say this finding indicates that food allergies may develop via immune cells in the skin rather than the gut, highlighting eczema as a potential target for preventing food allergy in children. A link between eczema and food allergy has been known for some time, but researchers from King's College London and the University of Dundee say this study, published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, ...

NIH-funded study suggests that moving more may lower stroke risk

2013-07-19
Here's yet another reason to get off the couch: new research findings suggest that regularly breaking a sweat may lower the risk of having a stroke. A stroke can occur when a blood vessel in the brain gets blocked. As a result, nearby brain cells will die after not getting enough oxygen and other nutrients. A number of risk factors for stroke have been identified, including smoking, high blood pressure, diabetes and being inactive. For this study, published in the journal Stroke, Michelle N. McDonnell, Ph.D., from the University of South Australia, Adelaide and her ...

Children with ear deformity may need intervention to improve school performance

2013-07-19
Children born with a complete absence of the external ear canal, even if only one ear is affected, are more likely than their peers to struggle in school, according to new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Hearing amplification and corrective surgery are available for the condition, called aural atresia. But many children with single ear atresia (unilateral atresia) often are not treated, even though they have significant hearing loss in their affected ear. The assumption has been that having one good ear is adequate for children with ...

Snow falling around infant solar system

2013-07-19
Astronomers using the new Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) telescope have taken the first-ever image of a snow line in an infant solar system. This frosty landmark is thought to play an essential role in the formation and chemical make-up of planets around a young star. On Earth, snow lines typically form at high elevations where falling temperatures turn atmospheric moisture to snow. In much the same way, snow lines are thought to form around young stars in the distant, colder reaches of the disks from which solar systems form. Depending on the distance ...

First atlas on oceanic plankton

2013-07-19
In an international collaborative project, scientists have recorded the times, places and concentrations of oceanic plankton occurrences worldwide. Their data has been collected in a global atlas that covers organisms from bacteria to krill. Oceans cover 70 per cent of the earth's surface. The animal and plant species concealed within these vast expanses and almost fathomless depths have been researched relatively little in comparison with those of terrestrial ecosystems. To date, very little is known about the distribution of plankton – those organisms that are too small ...

Cellular channels vital for hearing identified

2013-07-19
Boston, Mass., July 18, 2012 – Ending a 30-year search by scientists, researchers at Boston Children's Hospital have identified two proteins in the inner ear that are critical for hearing, which, when damaged by genetic mutations, cause a form of delayed, progressive hearing loss. Findings were published online July 18 by the journal Neuron. The mutations, affecting genes known as TMC1 and TMC2, were reported in 2011 by the laboratory of Jeffrey Holt, PhD, in the Department of Otolaryngology at Boston Children's. Until now, however, it wasn't clear what the genes do. ...

Marriage rate lowest in a century

2013-07-19
BOWLING GREEN, O.—Fewer women are getting married and they're waiting longer to tie the knot when they do decide to walk down the aisle. That's according to a new Family Profile from the National Center for Family and Marriage Research (NCFMR) at Bowling Green State University. According to "Marriage: More than a Century of Change," the U.S. marriage rate is 31.1, the lowest it's been in over a century. That equals roughly 31 marriages per 1,000 married women. Compare that to 1920, when the marriage rate was a staggering 92.3. Since 1970, the marriage rate has declined ...

NASA's 2 views of Tropical Storm Cimaron making landfall in China

2013-07-19
Looking at the extent of a tropical cyclone's clouds from space doesn't tell you all you need to know about a storm, so satellites use infrared, microwave and multi-spectral imagery to look "under the hood." Two NASA satellites provided an outside and inside look at Tropical Storm Cimaron as it was starting to make landfall in China. The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder or AIRS instrument that flies aboard NASA's Aqua satellite captured an infrared image of Tropical Storm Cimaron on July 17 at 17:29 UTC (1:29 p.m. EDT). Infrared data helps determine temperature, such as the ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

KAIST Develops Retinal Therapy to Restore Lost Vision​

Adipocyte-hepatocyte signaling mechanism uncovered in endoplasmic reticulum stress response

Mammals were adapting from life in the trees to living on the ground before dinosaur-killing asteroid

Low LDL cholesterol levels linked to reduced risk of dementia

Thickening of the eye’s retina associated with greater risk and severity of postoperative delirium in older patients

Almost one in ten people surveyed report having been harmed by the NHS in the last three years

Enhancing light control with complex frequency excitations

New research finds novel drug target for acute myeloid leukemia, bringing hope for cancer patients

New insight into factors associated with a common disease among dogs and humans

Illuminating single atoms for sustainable propylene production

New study finds Rocky Mountain snow contamination

Study examines lactation in critically ill patients

UVA Engineering Dean Jennifer West earns AIMBE’s 2025 Pierre Galletti Award

Doubling down on metasurfaces

New Cedars-Sinai study shows how specialized diet can improve gut disorders

Making moves and hitting the breaks: Owl journeys surprise researchers in western Montana

PKU Scientists simulate the origin and evolution of the North Atlantic Oscillation

ICRAFT breakthrough: Unlocking A20’s dual role in cancer immunotherapy

How VR technology is changing the game for Alzheimer’s disease

A borrowed bacterial gene allowed some marine diatoms to live on a seaweed diet

Balance between two competing nerve proteins deters symptoms of autism in mice

Use of antifungals in agriculture may increase resistance in an infectious yeast

Awareness grows of cancer risk from alcohol consumption, survey finds

The experts that can outsmart optical illusions

Pregnancy may reduce long COVID risk

Scientists uncover novel immune mechanism in wheat tandem kinase

Three University of Virginia Engineering faculty elected as AAAS Fellows

Unintentional drug overdoses take a toll across the U.S. unequally, study finds

A step toward plant-based gelatin

ECMWF unveils groundbreaking ML tool for enhanced fire prediction

[Press-News.org] For women with hysterectomies, estrogen may be a lifesaver after all