AHAH! Advancing Health After Hysterectomy

Posted on December 15, 2014

December 2014 - Philip Sarrel, M.D. is the Founder and President of The Advancing Health After Hysterectomy Foundation, Inc., a non-profit corporation registered in Connecticut whose position statement is "Estrogen is the only menopause treatment that treats symptoms, prevents disease and saves lives."

In the United States, eight million women between the ages of 50 to 59 plus another seven million women under the age of 50 have no uterus. By the age of 50 to 54, one third of women in the United States have had a hysterectomy. By the age of 55 to 59, the hysterectomy rate is just over 40 percent. And more than 15 million women under the age of 60 have had a hysterectomy. In these women, the highest prevalence rates of the most severe symptoms due to estrogen deficiency are reported. These women (compared to women having a natural menopause) are at an increased risk for cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, psychiatric disorders including suicide and distress due to sexual dysfunction.

The benefits of estrogen therapy (ET) in women who have had a hysterectomy and who start ET when they are in their 50s or younger are substantial, prolong life and there is no risk of uterine cancer. For example, women who meet these criteria show a decreased risk of developing and dying of breast cancer, a decrease in heart attacks and a decrease in mortality compared to women receiving placebo treatment.

Despite the positive results of estrogen treatment there has been a steep decline in ET use since 2002, partly because the ET findings are not widely known and understood and are most often confused with the negative results seen in women with a uterus who receive hormone therapy that opposes that outweighs beneficial effects of estrogen.

Advancing Health After Hysterectomy Advisors*

• Dr. Philip Sarrel Prof. Emeritus, Ob/Gyn and Psychiatry, Yale, CT
• Dr. Tara Allmen Ob/Gyn, Columbia-PPresbyrterian, NY, NY
• Dr. Julio Casoy Endocrinologist, Philadelphia, PA
• Dr. Philip J DiSaia Marsh Chair, Repro Biol, UCI
• Dr. Alberto Dominguez Obstet/Gynecol, Miami, FL
• Dr. Jay Harness Prof. Breast Surgery, UCI (Past-Pres. ASBS)
• Dr. Henry Hess Clin Prof Obstet/Gynecol, Rochester , NY
• Dr. Howard Hodis Bauer/Rawlins Prof Cardiology, USC
• Dr. Andy Kaunitz Prof/Assoc Chair. Ob/Gyn, Univ Fla, Jacksonville
• Dr. David Katz Director, Yale Prev Med Res Ctr, Derby, CT
• Dr. Douglas Kirkpatrick Ob/Gyn, Past-Pres. of ACOG, Denver, CO
• Dr. Stephanie McClellan Obstet, Gynecol. Newport Beach, CA
• Dr. Mary Jane Minkin Clin Prof. Ob/Gyn, Yale, New Haven, CT
• Dr. Lila Nachtigall Clin Prof. Ob/Gyn, NYU, NYC, NY
• Dr. Peter Schnatz Reading Hospital, Reading, PA
• Dr. James A Simon Reproductive Endo and Infert. Georgetown U, Washington, D.C.
• Dr. Mache Seibel Gyn Endocrinologist, UMass, Worcester, MA
• Marge Taylor WHNP-BC/CMC, Grand Rapids, MI
• Dr. Holly L. Thacker, Professor, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH

*As of November 6, 2014