The Yo-yo History of Hormones
Over time, medical recommendations of what to do about hormones have gone up and down, this way and that. First science said that women should take hormones to treat heart disease and slow down aging. Then the first randomized trial (Women’s Health Initiative, July 2002) made headline news, proclaiming that OMG, hormones caused these issues rather than protected against them. This, of course, made scary headline news. Docs stopped prescribing hormones (in the US, not so much in Europe). Most women got frightened to death about hormones and worry that they’ll get breast cancer.
Multiple reanalyzes that came from prestigious universities, like Yale, demonstrated that these studies had too many methodology issues to accurately make these scary claims. Some famous statisticians even called the hormone trials of the Women’s Health Initiative statistical fiascoes.
Women and docs heard the first scary headlines. But when the facts were reversed, these less scary headlines didn’t make nighttime news.
To this day too many women are scared of hormone therapies, when in fact, aging without addressing your hormone insufficiencies is often much more unsafe.