HEALTH SERVICE RESEARCH POSTER PRESENTATION ABSTRACTS
Please note: All posters will be displayed in
Salons 10-12.
THURSDAY, 5:30-6:15 PM
Bair YA, Gold EB, Utts JM, Zhang G, Rasor M, Upchurch
DM, Chyu L, Greendale GA.
Use of hormone therapy and complementary and alternative
medicine during the menopause transition: results from the study of
women's health across the nation (SWAN).
UC Davis Center for Health Services Research yabair@ucdavis.edu
PURPOSE: We examined women's self-reported reasons
for use of Hormone Therapy (HT) and Complementary and Alternative Medicine
(CAM) during menopause.
METHODS: SWAN is a prospective cohort study,
following a group of 3302 women from five racial/ethnic groups, at seven
clinical sites located nationwide. We assessed rates of use and reasons
for use of HT and 21 individual CAM therapies at the 6th annual study
follow-up visit (calendar years 2002-2003).
RESULTS: Approximately 21% of women reported
HT use during the study period. By comparison, approximately 5% of women
reported use of acupuncture, 6% use of Black Cohosh, 16% used Glucosamine,
13% practiced yoga and 16% used soy supplements. Among women who used
HT, approximately 70% did so to relieve menopausal symptoms. Approximately
78% used HT on advice from a health care provider and 15% did so on
advice from a friend or relative. Approximately 34% of women used HT
to regulate periods, 32% to reduce the risk of osteoporosis, and 22%
to reduce the risk of heart disease. Among women using acupuncture,
42% reported use for general health, 21% on advice from a health care
provider, 15% to relieve menopausal symptoms, and less than 10% used
acupuncture for symptoms or to reduce risk of chronic disease. Women
who used Black Cohosh reported menopausal symptoms as the primary reason
for use (93%). Approximately 18% of women who used Black Cohosh did
so for general health, 16% to reduce the risk of heart disease, and
14% on advice from a provider. Glucosamine users reported general health
(57%) and reducing the risk of osteoporosis (36%) as the most common
reasons for use. Approximately 19% of women using Glucosamine did so
on advice from a provider and only 4% used Glucosamine for menopausal
symptoms. Among women who practiced yoga, 96% reported the practice
for general health. Approximately 37% of women reported using yoga to
reduce the risk of chronic disease, and 21% used yoga for relief of
menopausal symptoms. Only 9% of women reported practicing yoga on advice
from a provider. Women used soy supplements to reduce menopausal symptoms
(71%), to reduce the risk of osteoporosis (41%) and heart disease (44%)
and for general health (72%). Approximately 14% of women used soy on
advice from a health care provider.
CONCLUSIONS: Women in this study are using a
combination of therapies to manage menopausal symptoms and maintain
health during midlife. CAM therapies are used as a complement to traditional
hormone therapy during the menopause transition. While provider advice
is a key component to use of HT, use of CAM is often undertaken independently
of health care providers.
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