What Hormone Therapy Can Do For Menopause and Long-term Health

At Dr. Monica Christmas’s clinic these days, she sees two kinds of menopausal patients. The first, she said, is suffering from the symptoms associated with this life phase, but is also wary of hormone therapy because she’s heard there are health risks associated with it.

The second kind of patient is almost the exact opposite: she may not have symptoms at all, but nonetheless is asking for hormones because she’s heard they will make her healthier.

“We seem to like these extremes,” said Dr. Christmas, the director of the Menopause Program and Center for Women’s Integrated Health at the University of Chicago.

Prescription data reflects a persistent anxiety around the health risks: In a study published in September, researchers found that only 5 percent of menopausal women used hormones in 2020 despite the fact that roughly 80 percent of women experience symptoms.

On the flip side, in the last few years, a growing number of social media influencers and celebrities, like Oprah Winfrey, have loudly endorsed hormone therapy, presenting it as a “magic elixir,” Dr. Christmas said.

“Now there’s this messaging that every woman who is menopausal should be on hormone therapy,” she said. But women need more clarity around what hormone therapy can and can’t do. “We’ve got to find our way back to the middle ground.”

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