Veerus Piret, Hovi Sirpa-Liisa, Sevón Tiina, Hunter Myra, Hemminki Elina
Department of epidemiology and biostatistics, National Institute for Health Development, Hiiu 42, 11619, Tallinn, Estonia.
BMC Res Notes. 2012 Apr 3;5:176. doi: 10.1186/1756-0500-5-176.
For postmenopausal women, the main reason to start hormone therapy (HT) is to reduce menopausal symptoms and to improve quality of life (QOL). The aim of this study was to analyse the impact of HT on different aspects of symptom experience and QOL during a randomised trial. A total of 1823 postmenopausal women were recruited into the Estonian Postmenopausal Hormone Therapy (EPHT) trial in 1999-2001. Women were randomised to blind HT, open-label HT, placebo or non-treatment arm. After one year in the trial, a questionnaire was mailed and 1359 women (75%) responded, 686 in the HT arms and 673 in the non-HT arms. Mean age at filling in the questionnaire was 59.8 years. The questionnaire included Women's Health Questionnaire (WHQ) to assess menopause specific QOL of middle-aged women together with a 17-item questionnaire on symptoms related to menopause, a question about painful intercourse, and a question about women's self-rated health.
After one year in the trial, fewer women in the HT arms reported hot flashes, trouble sleeping, and sweating on the symptom questionnaire. According to WHQ, women in the HT arms had fewer vasomotor symptoms, sleep problems, and problems with sexual behaviour, but more menstrual symptoms; HT had no effect on depression, somatic symptoms, memory, attractiveness, or anxiety. A smaller proportion of women reported painful intercourse in the HT arms. There were no significant differences between the trial arms in women's self-rated subjective health.
The results from the EPHT trial confirm that HT is not justified for treating symptoms, other than vasomotor symptoms, among postmenopausal women. WHQ proved to be a useful and sensitive tool to assess QOL in this age group of women.
对于绝经后女性而言，开始激素治疗（HT）的主要原因是减轻绝经症状并改善生活质量（QOL）。本研究旨在分析在一项随机试验中HT对症状体验和生活质量不同方面的影响。1999年至2001年，共有1823名绝经后女性被纳入爱沙尼亚绝经后激素治疗（EPHT）试验。女性被随机分配至盲法HT组、开放标签HT组、安慰剂组或非治疗组。试验进行一年后，邮寄了一份问卷，1359名女性（75%）做出了回应，HT组有686名，非HT组有673名。填写问卷时的平均年龄为59.8岁。问卷包括用于评估中年女性绝经特异性生活质量的女性健康问卷（WHQ），以及一份关于绝经相关症状的17项问卷、一个关于性交疼痛的问题和一个关于女性自评健康的问题。
试验进行一年后，HT组中报告潮热、睡眠问题和出汗的女性较少。根据WHQ，HT组女性的血管舒缩症状、睡眠问题和性行为问题较少，但月经症状较多；HT对抑郁、躯体症状、记忆力、吸引力或焦虑没有影响。HT组中报告性交疼痛的女性比例较小。各试验组女性的自评主观健康状况没有显著差异。
EPHT试验的结果证实，除血管舒缩症状外，HT对治疗绝经后女性的其他症状并无正当理由。事实证明，WHQ是评估该年龄组女性生活质量的一种有用且敏感的工具。
