Estrogen & Post-Menopause
NPR'S Patricia Neighmond reports on a study published in this week's New England Journal of Medicine that confirms women who take estrogen after menopause -- live longer. Even so, that's not a recommendation for all women to take estrogen because the study also confirms earlier evidence that long term estrogen use -- taking the hormone for l0 years or more -- increases the risk of breast cancer. Definitive answers to the question of whether to take estrogen after menopause should finally be available when the results of scientific trials now underway are in. That should be in about l0 years.
NPR explores what happens to us when we hit 50 or so and what we can do to flourish in our middle years.