Perimenopausal women's views on taking hormone replacement therapy to prevent osteoporosis.

OBJECTIVE To find out perimenopausal women's views on taking hormone replacement therapy to prevent osteoporosis. DESIGN Semistructured postal questionnaire survey; the questionnaire was enclosed with a letter to explain the purpose of the study and to give patients some information about hormone replacement therapy and osteoporosis. SETTING Mixed social class, urban general practice with 12,000 registered patients. PATIENTS All women aged 50, 51, or 52 were selected from the age-sex register; 102 women were identified and 84 (87%) replied to the questionnaire. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Response rates to questions on interest in taking hormone replacement therapy, the importance of preventing osteoporosis, and worries about side effects of the treatment. RESULTS More than three quarters of the respondents (65) were interested in taking hormone replacement therapy to prevent osteoporosis, but 48 of them would have liked further information. Sixty four women thought that it was very important to prevent osteoporosis. More than half of the respondents (51) were worried about side effects of the treatment, but only 15 women thought that continued menstruation would be a major disadvantage. CONCLUSIONS There is considerable interest among perimenopausal women in taking hormone replacement therapy to prevent osteoporosis. The resource implications for primary care in meeting this interest are substantial.