US health authorities are looking Thursday at hormone treatments for the effects of menopause, the use of which they could encourage, despite being debated for years due, in particular, to increased risks of breast cancer.
Medically synonymous with the end of ovarian activity and the cessation of menstrual cycles, menopause has consequences for women's health and can cause very uncomfortable symptoms: hot flashes, sleep disturbances, vaginal dryness, pain during sexual intercourse, etc.
Hormone treatments "have, for decades, helped women relieve the symptoms of menopause," Marty Makary, head of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), said in a video, believing that the associated risks have been overestimated.
On Thursday, he convened a panel of experts outside his agency to re-examine the risks associated with these menopause hormone treatments.
Marty Makary has long advocated for their use. In his video, he even claims that these treatments can reduce cognitive decline, the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, and can prevent osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease.
During menopause, the ovaries gradually stop functioning, leading to a drop in estrogen levels. These changes can cause very uncomfortable symptoms, which can be relieved with hormone replacement therapy.
But in 2002, a US study caused confusion by showing that hormone treatments led to an increased risk of breast cancer and stroke, and their prescription fell sharply.
The question still divides the medical community.
– Flawed study –
"The many benefits of hormone therapy were ignored because they were considered carcinogenic. Prescriptions for hormone replacement therapy plummeted in the United States, and women flushed their pills down the toilet," continued Marty Makary.
"Fifty million women have missed out on the incredible potential benefits of hormone therapy because of medical ideology," he added, citing the example of his own mother.
Some in the medical community say the 2002 Women's Health Initiative study was flawed because the participants were too far removed from menopause, when risks are high and benefits are limited.
And the FDA's own package insert for these treatments warns of increased risks of endometrial and breast cancer, as well as deadly blood clots.
An editorial published this week by the medical journal American Family Physician also concludes that hormone therapy has limited benefits and significant risks. "Menopause is a positive experience for many women and should not be medicalized," the authors write.
Many of the experts called to consider the issue Thursday have ties to laboratories that sell these treatments or are part of a collective, funded by pharmaceutical companies, which is advocating for a change in their leaflet warning of possible side effects.
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