HRT

abbreviation (Health and Fitness) Short for hormone replacement therapy, a technique designed to relieve some of the unpleasant symptoms suffered by women during and after the menopause, by boosting oestrogen levels artificially. Etymology: The initial letters of Hormone Replacement Therapy. History and Usage: The treatment first became available in the late sixties and to begin with was usually known by its full name hormone replacement therapy; by the mid eighties it had proved very popular as a safe, long-term treatment for the worst effects of the menopause (in particular brittle bone disease), was widely promoted by famous or successful women who had benefited from it, and was generally known by the abbreviation HRT. Oestrogen therapy (HRT) for women is increasingly prescribed to stave off post-menopausal symptoms such as brittle bones, thinning and wrinkled skin, falling hair, loss of libido and energy. Sunday Express Magazine 11 Feb. 1990, p. 45 No one knows for sure which women should receive hormone replacement therapy. The official line is that it is necessary only for women who are at special risk of the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis. But no one knows exactly who these high-risk people are, so many women play safe and opt for HRT anyway. Practical Health Spring 1990, p. 11