Dr. Sanjay Asthana, a geriatrician at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, led a separate analysis that found estrogen pills and patches improved depression and anxiety but had no effect on cognition or memory. The National Institute on Aging paid for that study.
Women need to realize the new study is much less definitive than the big federal one that found more lung and breast cancer deaths among women on estrogen-progestin pills, said one researcher involved in the earlier work, Dr. Rowan Chlebowski of the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. It would be unwise to try to prevent certain health problems by using a treatment "that increased the two leading causes of cancer deaths in women," he said.
Manson agreed that hormones should be used only for severe symptoms. Two study participants found they helped.
"My mood leveled out. I found that I was just generally calmer" on the estrogen patch, said Kathy Smerko, 60, a nurse practitioner from Phoenix.
Dianne Fraser, 56, an accountant from suburban Boston, said the patch eliminated the drenching sweats that woke her in the night. She was able to quit treatment after five years and seldom has problems now.
"It was enough to get me through that crazy period" right after menopause began, she said.
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Online:
Estrogen patch/pill study: http://www.keepstudy.org/
Women's Health study: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/whi/estro_pro.htm
and http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/whi/background.htm
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Marilynn Marchione can be followed at http://twitter.com/MMarchioneAP .
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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