UPDATE ON MENOPAUSE
BY ANDREW M. KAUNITZ, MD (MAY)
Dr. Kaunitz is to be thanked for concisely stating that, with few exceptions, hormone replacement therapy is safe and helpful to the great majority of women who are suffering adverse effects of menopause. However, he is far too forgiving about the profound misinformation foisted upon our profession and patients by the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) studies. These were poorly designed studies with conclusions that were, in a word, bogus. Sadly, the 2007 studies have not received the same blaring, front-page headlines as the original studies. As a result, women now fear a therapy that is overwhelmingly safe and beneficial. We can only wonder if there will ever be an acknowledgment from the WHI authors that their conclusions were based upon bad science. I believe they owe both the ObGyn community and our menopausal patients a long-overdue apology.
David Priver, MD
San Diego, Calif
Dr. Kaunitz responds:
Others also call for mea culpa
I thank Dr. Priver for his comments. He is not alone in believing an apology is due, both to our specialty and to menopausal patients. In late 2007, in fact, Wulf Utian, MD, PhD, executive director of the North American Menopause Society, called for such a mea culpa in the journal Menopause.1