Investigation on awareness of perimenopausal hormone replacement therapy

Objective To study the awareness and training demands of perimenopausal hormone replacement therapy (HRT) among a part of the medical care personnel and all the village woman representatives in Tongxiang. Methods A survey was conducted among the medical care personnel and all the village woman representatives in Tongxiang using questionnaire which is about the baseline characteristics of the two groups and the level of understanding, recommendation and training demand for knowledge regarding hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Results The survey involved 430 medical staff members and 206 village women representatives. No significantly statistical differences were found among the age, working lifetime and academic careers in the two groups. About 68.9% village woman representatives thought that the HRT was necessary to perimenopausal women which was significantly higher than the medical personnel. Only 8.6% of the medical personnel were willing to recommend HRT which was significantly lower than the village women representatives. The reason why the medical care personnel would not like to recommend HRT to patients was worrying about side effects. The medical personnel would like more perimenopausal health knowledge and information mainly through medical books and journals yet the village women representatives mainly through doctors and media. Conclusion The knowledge of HRT in part of the medical care personnel is not sufficient in Tongxiang. The side effects of HRT was still a concern. The recommending rate of HRT was low. There were differences between the medical care personnel and the village woman representatives in HRT knowledge. Therefore carrying out various forms of HRT knowledge education for different groups and training the village women representatives to become a disseminator of HRT knowledge are the key measures to improve HRT application. Key words: Hormone replacement therapy (HRT); Awareness; Training demand; The medical personnel; The village woman representatives