[Changes in the use of hormone replacement therapy after an educational intervention aimed at women and prescribers]

To describe changes in prescription of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in Asturias (Spain) after the publication of the results of the Women's Health Initiative and the Million Women Study and following the recommendations of the Spanish Drugs Agency to women and prescribers (2004-2005).

We performed a quasiexperimental study with no control group. The data used consisted of sales of HRT products from 1996 to 2003 (preintervention period). In 2004 and 2005, annual sales of HRT products and the percentage of women using HRT among the population aged 50-59 years were analyzed. To analyze trends in costs, we used the price of each product in pesetas until 2001 and in euros thereafter.

Sales of HRT increased until 2001. Total sales declined by 73.6% between 2001 and 2005. The decrease between 2004 and 2005 (49.1%) was twice that observed between 2002 and 2003 (24.5%). An estimated 17.2% of women aged 50-59 years old were using HRT in 1996 compared with 4.1% in 2005. The total pharmaceutical cost related to HRT showed a similar decrease, although sales of Boltin (tibolone) increased by two-fold.

Systematic and independent educational interventions aimed at women in the general population and prescribers are both effective and necessary. The HRT epidemic and its health costs, as well as the shift to tibolone prescription and the adverse effects of this drug, should be investigated nationwide.