Nowadays, doctors often advise women to take hormones, including estrogen, to ease the side effects of menopause and to lower their risk of heart disease and osteoporosis. A new study shows that many women doctors follow their own advice. Almost half of 1,466 postmenopausal doctors interviewed take hormones, Dr. Sally E. McNagny and her colleagues at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta report in the December 15 Annals of Internal Medicine .
Usage is highest among the youngest participants.
Almost 60 percent of those ages 40 to 49 are on hormone replacement therapy. Among the participants ages 50 to 59, 49.4 percent take hormones. Of the over 60 set, 36.4 percent do so. The physicians who reported taking hormones were more likely than the non-users to have no family or personal history of breast cancer. Studies suggest that hormone replacement therapy may increase a woman's risk of breast cancer.