An increasingly longer life-span of women results in greater interests in the ways to improve their quality of life. It is assumed that 1/3 of the woman’s life is the post-menopausal period, also called climacterium.

According to the demographic prognosis, the life expectancy for women in 2010 will be 80 years. The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported that after 2000 the global number of women above 50 years of age will exceed 700 million.

It has already been demonstrated that HRT reduces the risk of various diseases, particularly those of the cardiovascular system. Nevertheless, this method is used by a relatively small number of women. The women with troublesome climacteric symptoms often use alternative methods of treatment, mostly herbal preparations. The decision about the use of HRT remains difficult for many women, especially that mass media frequently report unreliable and conflicting information concerning the benefits and risks of such a therapy.

The available literature lacks any data about the attitudes of health service workers towards HRT. Hormone replacement therapy in postmenopausal women is still widely discussed and questioned, particularly after the publication of a report concerning the studies “Women’s Health Initiative” carried out by American physicians for the last few years. The report presents the results of studies whose aim was to self-evaluate the gynecologists` and midwives` attitudes towards HRT and to determine the opinions of these professional groups on women’s attitudes to this method of treatment and prophylaxis.

The studies included 240 individuals, 94 gynaecologists and 146 registered midwives. The results revealed that their attitudes to HRT were positive. In the opinion of physicians and midwives the women’s attitudes towards HRT vary, depending on: their level of knowledge, age, education, origin and economic conditions.