Hormone replacement therapy use in urban older women attending meal sites:Associations with sociodemographic and health characteristics and use of preventive services

OBJECTIVE: To examine sociodemographic, health and preventive health practi ces associated with hormone replacement therapy (HRT) use in urban communit y-dwelling older women. DESIGN: Survey. SETTING: Community-based meal sites throughout the city of Los Angeles. PARTICIPANTS: A convenience sample of 705 community-dwelling women older th an age 60 who completed questionnaires for the Prevention for Elderly Perso ns Program. MEASUREMENTS: Demographic and life style characteristics, functional status , preventive practices, and current and past use of HRT. RESULTS: Among the 705 women surveyed, 13% reported current use and 17% rep orted past use of HRT. Current users were more likely to be younger and mor e likely to report a history of osteoporosis, hysterectomy, and calcium use than never users. White women were more likely to be current users than bl ack women. CONCLUSIONS: Only a small proportion of the older urban women studied are c urrently using HRT. In particular, efforts to increase the use of these pre ventive services need to focus on black women and women who do not have a p rior history of osteoporosis.