Persistence with estrogen therapy in a postmenopausal Medicaid population

We evaluated rates of persistence with estrogen replacement therapy in post menopausal Georgia Medicaid recipients adjusted for age and race. Data file s for 1992-1994 were examined to estimate 3-year conditional survival proba bilities using the Kaplan-Meier model, and 3800 subjects were identified. O ver 54% of women remained compliant over 29 months, and 17% continued thera py for the entire 35 months of observation. Kaplan-Meier predictors indicat ed that white women have a 70% chance of being compliant for 3 years, where as black women have a 60% chance. Monthly discontinuation rates ranged from 1-1.5% after the second month of therapy. Younger, white women were the mo st likely to maintain and comply with therapy.