The Impact of Long Term Estrogen Support After Hysterectomy

Abstract

Women [1016] were placed on estrogen support following hysterectomy and were followed for a total of 14,318 patient/years. Support was conjugated estrogen with the customary dose 1.5 mg/day. Follow-up studies in this group of women shows a marked drop in deaths from all causes over those which might have been expected. This improvement in mortality is the result of a diminished number of deaths from heart attack and cancer. Those causes of death which would not be expected to be related to hormonal therapy show the anticipated number of mortalities. There is also a marked improvement in the clinical evidence of osteoporosis. In this group there was an increase in the number of breast cancers over those which might have been expected, but there was a lower mortality from breast cancer than the anticipated mortality. The general impact of long-term estrogen therapy following hysterectomy is favorable over those figures for the expected incidence of cancer and heart disease.