Link between Hormone Replacement Therapy and Prempro

For many years now, women have been using Hormone Replacement Therapy like Medroxyprogesterone, Premarin, Premphase, Prempro, Estradiol, and Provera to decrease the signs and symptoms liked with menopause such as insomnia, vaginal dryness, hot flashes and night sweats. According to doctors, prolonged use of Hormone Replacement Therapy drugs was protected and safe against heart diseases and osteoporosis. With a purpose to prevent heart diseases, doctors prescribe HRT drugs to postmenopausal women.

Wyeth manufactures Prempro, Combined Hormone Replacement Therapy (CHRT). It is commonly prescribed for the treatment of postmenopausal symptoms including hot flashes. There is difference between Prempro and other Hormone Replacement Therapy as Prempro combined progesterone and estrogen in a single tablet. Currently, around six million women are using Prempro around the world.

The Women’s Health Initiative conducted a study exploring the benefits and risks associated with the use of Hormone Replacement Therapy. This study was conducted under the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and the National Institutes of Health. A part of this study included 16,608 women between the age group of 50 to 79 using Prempro, a combination of progesterone or estrogen and placebo. This study was halted three years earlier as researchers accomplished that the women who were prescribed Prempro were at an increased risk of injuries and side effects caused by its consumption. This study revealed that the women taking Prempro were at a higher risk of developing stroke, blood cancer and blood clots as compared to the women-taking placebo.

The average age of menopause among women is 51.4 and the age of women in the study was 64. However, study established that HRT should not be prescribed to prevent heart diseases in older women. This was not the only study to report about the side effects of heart diseases and hormone. The Heart and Estrogen-Progestin Replacement Study investigated whether the use of combination hormone therapy prevents a heart attack or not. This study proved that the risk of heart attack increases in the first year of the use.

In January 2006, paper published in the Journal of Women’s Health reported a data from the Nurses’ Health Study, according to which 12000 female nurses using estrogen therapy reported that this therapy was beneficial for the women’s heart. This paper reported that the women who started using this therapy immediately after menopause decreased the risk of heart diseases by 30 percent.

Breast Cancer and Prempro

Ever since, Hormone Replacement Therapy was introduced to the market, healthcare professionals and doctors were worried about the increased risk of breast cancer among women. Women using Prempro are at an increased risk of developing breast cancer, particularly lobular breast cancer. Recently, a study concluded that the women using CHRT such as Prempro are at a much higher risk of developing lobular breast cancer to that of the women who never used HRT. The risk of breast cancer is as high as 430 percent.