HRT is often given as a short-term relief (often one or two years, usually less than five) from menopausal symptoms (hot flashes, irregular menstruation, fat redistribution etc.). Younger women with premature ovarian failure or surgical menopause may use hormone replacement therapy for many years, until the age that natural menopause would be expected to occur.
Attitudes towards HRT changed in 2002 following the announcement by the Women's Health Initiative of the National Institutes of Health that those receiving the treatment (Prempro) in the main part of their study had a larger incidence of breast cancer, heart attacks and strokes. The WHI findings were reconfirmed in a larger national study done in the UK, known as the the Million Women Study. As a result of these findings, the number of women taking hormone treatment dropped by almost half. The Journal of the American Medical Association and elsewhere based on these findings warn that women with normal rather than surgical menopause should take prescribed HRT treatment at the lowest feasible dose, for the shortest possible time. For health problems associated with menopause such as osteoporosis (a small percentage of postmenopausal women are at risk of severe bone loss), other life-style changes and/or medications are now recommended.
