The perceptions of menopause of African-American and white women and affect on willingness to participate in a HRT clinical trial.

Menopause is a normal developmental process for women; however, few studies of healthy menopausal women and African-American women have been reported. While hormone replacement therapy (HRT) has been touted as a treatment for menopausal women, clinical trials of HRT still need to be conducted to determine its potential positive and negative effects. This is a focus group study of 21 women of menopausal age (11 African-Americans and 10 White women) to determine their experiences with menopause and their willingness to participate in a HRT clinical trial. Results indicated generally positive attitudes toward menopause and a variety of symptoms of varying degrees of severity in African-American and White women. Limited knowledge about menopause and HRT were apparent; however, White women were more likely to be receiving HRT and were more informed about HRT than African-American women. White women also were more positive about participating in a HRT clinical trial than African-American women who feared cancer as a potential side effect.