DARWIN EU® - Treatment patterns in postmenopausal women in European countries: A real-world observational study

10/11/2025
11/03/2026
EU PAS number:
EUPAS1000000821
Study
Ongoing
Study type

Study topic

Disease /health condition
Human medicinal product

Study topic, other

Post-menopause

Study type

Non-interventional study

Scope of the study

Drug utilisation

Data collection methods

Secondary use of data
Non-interventional study

Non-interventional study design

Cohort
Study drug and medical condition

Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) code

(G03CA) Natural and semisynthetic estrogens, plain
Natural and semisynthetic estrogens, plain
(G03CB) Synthetic estrogens, plain
Synthetic estrogens, plain
(G03D) PROGESTOGENS
PROGESTOGENS
Population studied

Short description of the study population

The study population will include postmenopausal women defined as i) women aged 50 to 65 years and ii)
women aged <50 years with a prior history of conditions or procedures indicating premature or early
menopause. This definition will be applied consistently across study objectives.

Age groups

  • Adults (18 to < 65 years)
    • Adults (18 to < 46 years)
    • Adults (46 to < 65 years)
Study design details

Study design

A retrospective cohort study will be conducted using routinely collected health data from 5 data sources
from 4 European countries belonging to 3 EU member states.

Main study objective

The specific objectives of this study are:
1. To describe the demographic and clinical characteristics of postmenopausal women, including:
a) age,
b) body mass index (BMI),
c) smoking status,
d) concomitant conditions,
e) HRT used at treatment initiation, where applicable.
Estimates will be stratified by HRT status and presented for selected calendar years.
2. To estimate annual prevalence of HRT use among postmenopausal women, overall and
stratified by:
a) HRT formulation.
b) route of administration (systemic or local).
c) HRT type (natural or synthetic) (if feasible).
Estimates will additionally be stratified by age group at treatment initiation.
3. To estimate the duration of HRT use among postmenopausal women initiating HRT, overall, and
by age group.
4. To describe HRT treatment patterns among postmenopausal women over ten years following
HRT initiation, overall, and by age group.

Outcomes

The outcomes are as follows:
• Characterisation of postmenopausal women initiating HRT treatment or not on HRT (objective
1).
• Annual prevalence of HRT use among postmenopausal women, including formulations, route of
administration, and type of HRT (if feasible) (objective 2).
• Duration of HRT treatment among postmenopausal women (objective 3).
• Treatment patterns following HRT treatment initiation (objective 4).