Social Media Pressure Contributes to Increased Use of Hormone Replace Therapy: Expert Says

A woman holds her Hormone Replacement Therapy patches in London on Aug. 8, 2003. (Ian Waldie/Getty Images)

Women experience “a huge amount of pressure” from social media to seek medical treatment to manage menopausal symptoms, according to a leading expert.

Dr. Paula Briggs, chair of the British Menopause Society (BMS) and sexual and reproductive health consultant at Liverpool Women’s Hospital, told The Epoch Times that while HRT is the “most logical and effective method to manage common symptoms” in many menopausal women, it’s “ very simplistic” to say the treatment would reverse all changes post-menopause and neglect lifestyle intervention such as exercises.

HRT is a treatment to raise the level of female hormones using tablets, patches, implants, gel, or spray.

It’s mostly used to relieve menopausal symptoms such as hot flushes and night sweats, with other applications including treatment of cancer-related hormone deficiency or a boosting of oestrogen levels in transgender women.

According to data from the National Health Service, the number of HRT items prescribed in England in the 2021/2022 financial year has almost doubled the number in 2015/2016.

The number of identified patients increased by more than a third (37.24 percent) during the same period. A small part of the increase may be owing to changes in the population size, as the total number of patients per 1,000 estimated population only increased by 33.13 percent.

Number of Prescribed HRT Items in England by Financial Year. (Data Source: NHSBSA. NHSBSA Copyright 2023 / Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0)

More items are expected to be prescribed in the future as the UK government last month launched a new scheme, allowing annual prescriptions of HRT instead of shorter-term prescriptions. According to the BBC, the measure can cut prescription costs by between £90 to £200 per patient per year.

Social Media Pressure

Asked if more women are suffering from menopausal symptoms, Briggs said she believes pressure from social media has played a part in the increase.

“Women are now being exposed to quite anxiety-provoking information on social media, there are suggestions that their marriage will break down, they'll lose their job, and I think previously women just got on with it a little bit more than it’s happening now,” she said.

Briggs said she is “very pro-HRT,” but believes there’s “a huge amount of pressure for all women to take the treatment.

“It’s there as a choice and women should be supported with the right information to make the right decision for them. They shouldn’t feel obliged to take something that they don’t necessarily want to take,” she said.

Among the number of identified patients, the biggest surge (73.25 percent) in HRT prescriptions was for patients around menopausal and perimenopausal ages (45–59).

HRT prescriptions for older patients (60–90+) have also increased by 42.52 percent, while 26 percent fewer children and young patients (0–44) were using the treatment in 2021/2022 compared to six years prior.

‘Multifactorial’ Considerations

According to Briggs, it’s “fine” for more menopausal-aged women with no comorbidity to use HRT, as the benefits outweigh the risks for women under 60, but there’s little benefit for older women to begin or continue the treatment.

“As you get older, the chances are that your comorbidities increase. And therefore women should have at least an annual reassessment to see whether they’re suitable to continue with HRT,” she said.

Brigg said she’s now seeing “women who are well past their menopause coming asking for HRT” because “the increased awareness and publicity” led them to believe the treatment will improve their quality of life or change their risk profile.

“All of these things are multifactorial. So osteoporosis is not just caused by lack of estrogen. It’s things like smoking, drinking, family history, lack of exercise. So a really important part of managing postmenopausal health is lifestyle interventions. And it’s very simplistic to see that HRT will reverse all changes post menopause,” she said.