The impact of long term estrogen support after hysterectomy. A report of 1016 cases.

1016 Women were placed on estrogen support following hysterectomy and have been followed for a total of 14,318 patient/years. Support was principally conjugated estrogen with the customary dose 1.5 mg/day. The follow-up studies in this group of women shows a marked drop in deaths from all causes over those which might have been expected. This improvement in mortality is principally the result of diminished number of deaths from heart attack and from cancer. Those causes of death which would not be expected to be related to hormonal therapy show the anticipated number of mortalities. There is also a marked improvement in the clinical evidence of osteoporosis. In this group there is an increase in the number of breast cancers over those which might have been expected, but there is a lower mortality from breast cancer than the anticipated mortality. The general impact of long-term estrogen therapy following hysterectomy is favorable over those figures for the expected incidence of cancer and heart disease.