From Gennev CEO, Jill Angelo...
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote to you about Gennev’s position on hormone replacement therapy (HRT).
I heard from many of you about your personal stories of using hormone therapy effectively to combat menopause symptoms. From others, I heard concerns.
And that’s OK.
Our health is not a quick decision. What we do know is that there is no one-size-fits-all for women’s health in midlife.
In the last week, a new observational study hit the wire from Finland about HRT and Alzheimer’s. The researchers looked at outcomes involving nearly 85,000 postmenopausal Finnish women and found that those who had taken hormones long-term (like 10+ years) had a very small increased risk for Alzheimer's.
Note the word “postmenopausal.” This study was done with women 65 years and older.
Immediately, I reached out to sources I trust most, and here’s what they had to say.
Dr. Rebecca Dunsmoor-Su, M.D. and Gennev's Director of Health and resident ob/gyn, breaks down the study in terms we can understand. Mind you, she’s also an epidemiologist who is schooled on the virtue of broad observational studies such as the one in Finland versus the randomized approach most medical studies prefer.
In summary Dr Rebecca says, “… this study does not increase my worry about prescribing HRT for my patients.”
Dr. Lisa Mosconi, PhD, Director of the Women’s Brain Initiative and Associate Director of the Alzheimer’s Prevention Clinic at Weill Cornell Medical College (WCMC)/New York-Presbyterian Hospital, weighed in with a simple comment, “I think this article only confirms what we already knew – initiating HRT after menopause doesn't work and can actually increase risk of dementia in women who are older than 60, in part because of an increased risk of ischemia (part of your body not getting enough blood and oxygen).”
According to CNN, “The study's authors say the results cannot show a cause-and-effect relationship between the use of hormones and an increased risk of Alzheimer's. That's partly because the study was not able to capture age and other risk factors for comparison, such as genetic risk for Alzheimer's, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.” And the BBC warns women to “…not be alarmed.”
We asked Dr. Lisa Savage, MD and ob/gyn and new guest blogger for Gennev, to give us the 101 on HRT application forms. For me personally, this review grounded me like no other.
We’ve explored HRT for a number of menopause symptoms, for longer-term issues like heart disease, and for – you guessed it – Alzheimer’s and dementia.
We’ve even taken head-on your questions about HRT versus bio-identical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT) in a recorded webinar with Dr. Rebecca Dunsmoor-Su. And we’ve given you a straightforward perspective on testing hormone levels.
Gennev is seeking the truth on HRT, and it’s our intention to bring you credible, tested, and trusted opinions on this topic. With less than 7% of women in menopause getting the help they need to manage symptoms, we believe HRT is a viable option for more women than it serves.
I’ve labored on now twice in the past month about hormone therapy, so I will give it a rest (for awhile).
If you have questions and concerns about whether or not HRT is the right treatment for you, there is no better place than Gennev’s community forum or our private 1:1 practitioner appointments to get your questions answered by experts you can trust.
As always, if you have comments or recommendations for future topics you’d like me to weigh in on, please email me directly at jill@gennev.com.
Have a great weekend!
Jill
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