HRT Risk Holds Steady Based on Updated Review
May 31st, 2012Copied in part - Medpage medical News published May 28, 2012
Nearly a decade of additional research on hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for preventing chronic diseases still indicates more risk than benefit, a new evidence review suggested.
Conducted to inform a new set of U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommendations on hormone therapy, the review by Heidi Nelson, MD, MPH, of Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, and colleagues, found that every current HRT regimen carries significant risks that, for most women, probably outweigh the benefit.
Then newest outcomes are the collective data on nine completed HRT trials.
Among them were:
· Two main trials in the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI)
· Two spinoff WHI studies on memory and cognitive aging
· Estrogen Memory Study (EMS)
· Estrogen in the Prevention of Reinfarction Trial (ESPRIT),
· Ultra-Low-Dose Transdermal Estrogen Assessment (ULTRA)
· Women’s International Study of Long-Duration Oestrogen after Menopause (WISDOM)
· Heart and Estrogen/Progestin Replacement Study (HERS)
Nelson and colleagues wrote narrative summaries of what the studies found…
Among the harms that were significantly increased with one or both hormone replacement regimens:
· Invasive breast cancer (estrogen plus progestin)
· Stroke (both)
· Deep vein thrombosis (DVT, both)
· Pulmonary embolism (estrogen plus progestin)
· Breast cancer mortality (estrogen plus progestin)
· Lung cancer mortality (estrogen plus progestin)
· Gallbladder disease (both)
· Probable dementia (estrogen plus progestin)
· Urinary incontinence (both)
Read full article here: http://www.medpagetoday.com/OBGYN/HRT/32952
Keep in mind as you make your decisions about HRT or natural support for symptom relief throughout perimenopause, menopause, and post menopause, chemically compounded Bioidentical hormones are not natural and pose the same health risks as standardized steroidal HRT and perhaps more complications because they are not standardized.


