Forty-four per cent of women using hormone replacement therapy have stopped taking it in the past year, and another 32 per cent say they will discontinue it in the coming months, according to a new poll.

The dramatic abandonment of the once popular treatment is largely the result of a bombshell study released last July that found that long-term use of HRT can increase the risk of breast cancer, stroke, heart disease and pulmonary embolism rather than protect against them.

"These poll numbers don't surprise me because they reflect what I'm seeing in my practice," said Dr. Elaine Chin, who specializes in menopause management.

"Women, and menopausal women in particular, are really conscious of staying healthy, so when the research called into question the benefits and safety of HRT, they paid attention, and they acted."

Rosemarie Bera, a sales manager in Mississauga, is typical. At age 55, she had been taking hormones for four years, but arrived for an annual physical in October with a series of questions for her doctor. By the end of the visit, she had dropped the hormones.

"I'm not a worry wart, but I read the articles in the newspaper and wondered if this is something I should really be taking," Ms. Bera said. She was particularly concerned about news that HRT could increase her risk of stroke.

In the past four months, she has been weaned off the medication and substituted an herbal medication made with clover. "Knock wood, but I feel really good. I feel I've made the right decision."

Dr. Chin, who is medical director of the Beresford Clinics, said HRT has undergone a dramatic shift from being a "wellness option" for many women to a "medical tool" that is appropriate for only some women. The study focused on a combination of the hormones estrogen and progestin, but other formulations are used.

She still prescribes HRT to women with clinical depression who would be harmed by hormonal imbalance, and for treatment of short-term symptoms such as hot flashes. But for most, she now recommends herbal therapies and lifestyle changes such as diet and exercise.

The poll, conducted by Pollara, surveyed 500 Canadian women over the age of 50. Its statistical likelihood of accuracy, within a margin of error of 4.5 per cent upward or downward on any given question, is 95 per cent.

The poll was commissioned by Eli Lilly Canada. The pharmaceutical company does not sell replacement hormones, but it is aggressively marketing a drug called Evista, known as a selective estrogen receptor modulator. It is used to treat osteoporosis, a bone disease that greatly increases the risk of fractures and affects as many as one in four older women.

"One of the real benefits of HRT is that it decreased the risk of fractures, particularly hip fractures," said Angela Cheung, associate director of the women's health program at the University Health Network in Toronto.

She said women who are discontinuing HRT, particularly those with osteoporosis, should look for alternatives, including calcium, vitamin D and, in some cases, prescription medications.

Dr. Cheung said women abandoning HRT should do so gradually to avoid unpleasant side effects.

HRT was originally approved in 1942 as a treatment for short-term symptoms of menopause such as hot flashes and night sweats.

In July, the Women's Health Initiative, a long-term research project, was discontinued when researchers decided that statistically the therapy was doing more harm than good.