TY - JOUR T1 - Hormone replacement therapy prescribing in menopausal women in the UK: a descriptive study JF - BJGP Open JO - BJGP Open DO - 10.3399/BJGPO.2022.0126 VL - 6 IS - 4 SP - BJGPO.2022.0126 AU - Dana Alsugeir AU - Li Wei AU - Matthew Adesuyan AU - Sarah Cook AU - Nicholas Panay AU - Ruth Brauer Y1 - 2022/12/01 UR - http://bjgpopen.org/content/6/4/BJGPO.2022.0126.abstract N2 - Background Recent studies on the prescribing of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) medicines to treat symptoms of menopause are lacking.Aim To describe the prescribing of HRT in a cohort of UK menopausal women.Design & setting Population-based drug utilisation study using IQVIA Medical Research Database (IMRD-UK).Method Primary care data of women with recorded menopause and/or aged ≥50 years between January 2010 and November 2021 were extracted from the database. The incidence rate of women who received their first prescription for HRT was calculated annually using person-years-at-risk (PYAR) as the denominator. Incidence rates of HRT were estimated by type and route of administration. Relative changes in annual incidence rates were expressed as percentages and the average percentage change was assessed using linear regression. Annual prescribing prevalence per 100 women was calculated using mid-year menopausal population estimates.Results The incidence rate of prescribing of HRT increased from 5.01 in 2010 to 18.16 per 1000 PYAR in 2021, a relative increase of 13.64% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 6.97 to 20.30) per year. The incidence rate of fixed combinations of HRT increased from 3.33 to 12.23 per 1000 PYAR in 2010 and 2021, respectively. Transdermal formulations of HRT increased from 1.48 to 14.55 per 1000 PYAR in 2010 and 2021, respectively. The overall proportion of women in receipt of a prescription for HRT changed from 7.89% in 2010 to 6.86% in 2020.Conclusion This study shows a steady increase in the number of women receiving their first prescription for HRT during the study period, which suggests regained acceptance of HRT medicines. ER -