Wednesday Bubble: Hormone therapy

Posted by Liz on Nov 5, 2008 in heart disease | 0 comments

I was perusing the medical news last night and I came across this headline:

Hormone therapy for menopausal women not necessarily beneficial

The report feature results from the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation, which I have referenced several times over the past six months.  This current study, which was published in the Archives of Internal Medicine was undertaken to evaluate the accuracy of the “Timing Hypothesis,” which suggests that hormone therapy should be started with 6 years of menopause to fully realize its heart protective benefits.

Researchers compared hormone and cardiovascular profiles in 782 women who were:

1. Premenopausal
2. Using estrogen only
3. Using estrogen plus progesterone (hormone therapy)
4. Posemneopausal for at least 5 years and hadn’t used hormone therapy.

The results showed that women using hormone therapy, while having more favourable ratios of high density to low density lipoproteins (i.e. good to bad cholesterol), also had higher levels of blood fats (triglycerides) than premenopausal or postmenopausal women not using estrogen alone or no hormones. These findings, according to the researchers, were associated with less favourable oxidative environment (meaning more free radicals and a higher risk of diseases like atherosclerosis).

The conclusion? That despite extending hormone therapy, there is evidence of adverse effects even among women who are free of atherosclerosis.

The bottom line is that hormone therapy, while effective for adressing menopausal symptoms, may not be the cure-all for protection against disease, as it was once touted to be.

Another bubble burst about hormone therapy.