Hormone Replacement Therapy for Women Reviewed

Long-term hormone replacement therapy, HRT, used to be a fairly standard treatment for women going through, and post-menopause. Since 2005, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has recommended against such long-term use, citing that the potential risks of the treatment outweighed the possible benefits; guidelines published on Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine reaffirmed the panel's 2005 statement.

Understanding the Use of Hormone Replacement Therapy in Women

As women age, their bodies produce smaller amounts of estrogen and progestin. During the menopausal years, such as baby boomer generation are now or have already experienced, the changes in hormone levels may result in adverse symptoms, the most notable of which are hot flashes, night sweat, vaginal atrophy and difficulty sleeping. HRT during the menopause transition helps to alleviate the symptoms.

It is not this short-term use, likely lasting months to a few years, that the USPSTF is concerned with, but rather the long-term use of the hormones in the prevention of chronic diseases such as osteoporosis and heart disease. This independent panel of non-government health experts recommend against the use of both estrogen and progestin in postmenopausal women and the use of estrogen alone in postmenopausal women who have had hysterectomies for the purpose of disease prevention.

Danish Research Study Concludes Long-Term HRT Use Safe if Begun Early

Earlier this month the British Medical Journal published the results of a 10-year-long Danish study into the long-term use of hormone replacement therapy in recently postmenopausal women in the prevention of heart disease. The differences between this study and the Women's Health Initiative, stopped in 2002 due to the negative health effects to study participants from the HRT, are that this study included fewer participants and it also began the preventive HRT closer to the end of the participants' menopause.

The conclusion reached in this study determined that the participants, who averaged to be age 50 and for whom the 10-year HRT therapy began within seven months post-menopause, had a "significantly reduced rate" of death, heart failure and heart attack with no apparent increases in potential side effects such as blood clots or stroke.

Physicians Weigh in on Renewed Recommendations

Chief of Preventive Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital and professor at Harvard Medical School Dr. JoAnn Manson explained to Reuters that the recommendations made by the USPSTF are those already being followed by most medical professionals. Manson noted that the key in the recommendations is against the use of HRT to prevent disease, not in its use in the treatment of menopausal symptoms.

Dr. Mary Ann McLaughlin, director of cardiac health at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, explained to HealthDay that although the Danish study points to the idea that some women may be helped by the preventive use of HRT, until she is able to determine who those women are, she will adhere to the current recommendations.

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Hormone Replacement Therapy for Women Reviewed