My mom had been taking provera and ogden (spelling) for a number of years. She is 68 years old. Recently her internist suggested she stop taking them. Well when she goes to the OB he says to stay on them. With all the latest information on this what do you think? We are wondering since the OB suggest to stay on that he might be more informed? What do you think. She doesn't know what to do. They have had a lot of information in the news to stop taking them. Thanks for all your help Dr Sid!
If anyone else has a opinion I would love to hear it. (Sherasi)

It's not really my area of expertise, other than with respect to breast cancer: however, I think it's in large part an individual thing, wherein the risks and benefits differ from woman to woman. Also, much is made of the statistics, but it's a matter of how you look at them. An increase of, say, 30% in breast cancer risk means there were three women who got it without being on hormones, and 4 got it with hormones -- but what's important is, out of how many. In the studies in question, the numbers come down to this: of 1000 women on hormones, compared to 1000 women not on hormones, 996 were cancer-free on hormones, and 997 were cancer free off hormones. In terms of huge populations, that's significant; in terms of a single person, in my opinion, it's not very significant. So it depends on the benefits one seems to be getting vs the concern over that level of risk. Certainly a woman on hormones needs to be good about routine checkups and screening procedures.