Compliance with hormone replacement therapy in perimenopause (work experience of the educational program "Health of a woman older than 45 years")

Although the efficacy of substitute hormone therapy (SHT) is proven, the list of contraindications to it is short, and new drugs and dosage forms have been created, the number of periand postmenopausal women administered SHT is scanty. Among the factors responsible for it is insufficient information and the level of education of women. Our research was aimed at improving the quality of life and prevention of complications in periand postmenopausal women by developing programs for treating and training women of periand postmenopausal age. The program was tried in 106 women aged 39 to 62 years (51.83±0.68), 24 of whom were offered a course of group psychotherapy. Control group consisted of 48 women matched for their social status and age who were not trained.

The training decreased the anxiety caused by somatic state, the women became more open and spontaneous, their mood improved, and anxiety decreased due to explanations offered by the doctor. Special psychotherapeutic training added to preparatory measures improved the psychological state of women still more.

The knowledge of women after a course of training essentially improved in comparison with the control: 3.64±0.02 (p<0.00001) and 2.68+0.03 points (p<0.00001). Ninety-three (87.7%) women decided to resort to SHT after training and so did 31 (64.6%) women who were not trained. About half of untrained women discontinued SHT or had an insufficient course for this or that reason, while in the trained group only about 17% women did so.

hormone replacement therapy, peri- and postmenopause, improving the quality of life

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