COMPLIANCE WITH HORMONE REPLACEMENT THERAPY IN CHINESE WOMEN IN HONG-KONG

Compliance with hormone replacement therapy (HRT) has been extensively studied in western countries. However, there is little data concernin g women in Asian countries. A retrospective study was performed to det ermine compliance in a group of Hong Kong Chinese women who commenced HRT over a 2 year period. Two years after the commencement of HRT, 68. 3% were still taking HRT, although not always in the original formulat ion. The highest drop out rate occurred during the first 6 months. Fac tors which were associated with a higher degree of compliance were you ng age at menopause and at the time of initial consultation and the us e of unopposed HRT. A number of significant medical problems were iden tified during the 2 years of follow up which may have remained otherwi se undetected. Compliance with HRT appears to be comparable to that re ported in other western specialist centres. Nearly 9% of women who sto pped HRT did so because other doctors told them that they did not need the treatment and another 6.5% because of the fear of breast cancer. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.