Objectives: To study the prevalence and acceptance of hormone replacement t
herapy (HRT) in the Finnish population and to ascertain the factors leading
to premature discontinuation of HRT. Methods: A questionnaire survey was c
onducted among all women aged 50-60 selected from the age-sex register, 106
5 women were identified and 884 (response rate 84%) agreed to participate.
Results: 111 women were premenopausal and 773 postmenopausal; 302 (39%) wer
e current HRT users, 126 (16%) previous users and 345 (45%) non-users. Of t
he previous users 27% had used oestrogen for less than 6 months and 46% had
ceased treatment within 1 year. The main reason for discontinuation was si
de-effects; 41% of the women had suffered from them. Fear of cancer (16%),
recommendation of a physician (12%), inefficiency (4%), and advice of a fri
end (3%) were other causes of discontinuation. Of the current users, 20% ha
d continuous side-effects from the treatment and 15% had been advised to di
scontinue the treatment. Eleven percent of current users and 11% of previou
s users reported not having received any information about HRT. Conclusions
: in this survey, more than half of postmenopausal women had used HRT at me
nopause. Every third of the women had discontinued the treatment, mainly be
cause of side-effects but also because of fear of cancer and advice of phys
icians. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.