Public Health Implications: Impact of The Million Women Study
Results from the Million Women Study, together with those from other studies such as the Women’s Health Initiative trial from the USA, have influenced national policy, including recent recommendations on the prescribing and use of hormone replacement therapy from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and from the Commission on Human Medicines.
Public awareness of the study and its findings has led to significant behavioural changes, predominately resulting in the swift decline of HRT prescriptions throughout Europe and the US from 2003. In contrast to the increase in HRT prescriptions between 1991 and 1996, which remained stable through to 2001, sales of HRT fell by 50% between 2002 and 2005 following the publication of the Million Women Study and the Women's Health Initiative study.
A number of recent studies have shown that the Million Women Study continues to impact women’s health and behavioural patterns in Europe. Research examining breast cancer incidence trends in Sweden between 1997 and 2007, showed that the prevalence of HRT use in women aged 50-59 years decreased from a peak of 36% in 1999 to 9% in 2007, a parallel decrease in incidence of breast cancer was also reported between 2003 and 2007. A recent report assessing breast cancer incidence in Belgium between 2007 and 2008 also showed a significant drop in breast cancer incidence attributed to the decrease in HRT use in Belgium during and leading up 2008.
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