Women s Health Choices Care Treatment Options Finding Your Way AARP Bul

Women s Health Choices Care Treatment Options Finding Your Way AARP Bul

Women's Health Choices, Care, Treatment Options - Finding Your Way - AARP Bul...

Which Treatments Work Best for You

Information helps with right care treatment decisions

As individuals, we want choices that reflect who we are and what's right for our situation. Getting is no different. Until recently, information that showed which treatments work best for certain groups of patients, especially women, was hard to find.

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Now women's health research is a growing field. The (WHI), a long-term study launched by the late Bernadine Healy, M.D., a director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has provided important information on how to prevent and treat , , and in women ages 50 to 79. The WHI and the have helped to ensure that women are fairly represented in studies sponsored by the NIH. Before the WHI began, very few studies focused solely on women. Today, there is far more research to help identify which groups of patients will benefit from which kind of treatment. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) sponsors patient-centered research that asks just that question. The goal of this research is to help you make better, more informed . Several recent consumer guides based on this research focus on conditions that affect women. Written in plain language, these guides can help you understand the benefits and potential risks of treatments for various conditions. One such guide helps women talk to their doctor or nurse about . Two medicines can lower the risk for women who haven't had breast cancer but have a high risk of the disease. Both of these drugs, however, have , some of them serious. If you are at high risk for breast cancer or if you're unsure, talk to your doctor or nurse. They can help you decide whether a medicine to reduce the risk of breast cancer is a good choice. Next: Some questions included in this guide include: Is my risk of breast cancer higher or lower than other women my age? What if I don't want to start medicine at the age I am now? Can I start later? Is my risk for blood clots higher than usual? Can I do anything else to lower my risk for breast cancer? Another guide examines how to . Both men and women are at risk, but women are twice as likely as men to suffer a broken hip by age 80. The guide describes why it is important to manage pain, outlines medicines that may help you, and provides risks and benefits on other ways to manage pain. To help you make a decision on how to manage pain, the guide suggests key questions to ask, such as: Which options do you think are best to manage my pain? How quickly can I expect relief from my pain? How long do you think I will need to manage my pain? Are you concerned about the side effects from any of these options? Other consumer guides from AHRQ that address women's health issues cover breast biopsy, osteoporosis treatments, gestational diabetes, and induced labor. They provide helpful background on health conditions. Some even include basic price information on medicines. Here is AHRQ's complete list of . A new consumer learn which screening tests, medicines and daily steps to follow to stay healthy also is available. We have made remarkable progress in understanding how treatments affect different groups of patients and that information is very useful when you talk to your health care team about the right treatment for you. I'm Dr. Carolyn Clancy, and that's my opinion on how to navigate the health care system. Also of interest: Carolyn M. Clancy, a general internist and researcher, is an expert in engaging consumers in their health care. She is the director of the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

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