Prevalence of hormone replacement therapy in a sample of middle-aged women.

A survey based on a postal questionnaire sent to a random sample of Danish women aged 40-59 yr living on the island of Fünen (n = 401, response rate = 79%) revealed that the overall prevalence of the use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) was 16%, the highest rate being in the 50-54 age group (21%). Among post-menopausal women the rate was 21% and it was highest of all (37%) in those who had undergone an artificial menopause. The median age at the start of treatment was 44.3 yr among the artificial menopause and 48.9 yr among the natural menopause subjects. About half of the women were treated with natural oestrogen alone and over a third with cyclic natural oestrogen in combination with progestogens. Almost one-third of the women had consulted their doctor about climacteric complaints and two-thirds of these were current or past users of HRT. The women had ambiguous feelings towards HRT, approximately one third reporting a positive and one-third a negative attitude.