ESTROGEN USE IN POSTMENOPAUSAL WOMEN1

Abstract

Fifteen per cent of postmenopausal women living in a retirement community used oral estrogens. Both use and new-use continued in the seventh, eighth and ninth decades of life, although use and age-specific use-prevalence declined after age 70. Mean duration of most recent continuous use was 10.5 months. Vaginal estrogenic preparations were used infrequently, briefly, and usually by women who also used oral estrogens in the same year. The most commonly used oral estrogenic preparation was conjugated equine estrogens (Premarin^R).