Open AccessBRIEF REPORT: Attitudes Toward Hormone Therapy After the Women's Health Initiative
Author(s) -
Brett Allan S.,
Carney Patricia I.,
McKeown Robert E.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
journal of general internal medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.746
H-Index - 180
eISSN - 1525-1497
pISSN - 0884-8734
DOI - 10.1111/j.1525-1497.2005.0089.x
Subject(s) - medicine , asymptomatic , permissive , hormone therapy , adverse effect , women's health initiative , family medicine , placebo , medline , gynecology , postmenopausal women , alternative medicine , pathology , virology , cancer , breast cancer , political science , law
In the Women's Health Initiative (WHI), postmenopausal women receiving combination hormone therapy (HT) experienced more adverse outcomes than placebo recipients. To determine whether gynecologists and internists interpreted the WHI differently, we conducted a survey in which physicians responded to a hypothetical asymptomatic woman who asks whether to continue HT. In response to this scenario, gynecologists were more likely than internists to hold permissive views about prescribing HT (66% vs 35%; P <.001). These results suggest that gynecologists may be less concerned than internists about the adverse events associated with HT, or that gynecologists have stronger beliefs about benefits of HT.