Hormone Replacement Therapy for Symptoms but not for Chemoprevention of Chronic Diseases

A little dust has settled since last year’s news from the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) randomized trial about ‍the use of combined hormone replacement therapy (HRT) during and after menopause: long-term use may increase ‍a woman’s chances of becoming chronically ill (Women’s Health Initiative Investigators, 2002). In none of the three ‍age-groups studied (women in their 50s, 60s and 70s) was the presumed cardioprotective effect of HRT confirmed, ‍and in all age groups, the hormone users had more heart attacks, strokes, and blood clots than the control as well as ‍more breast cancer. The placebo arm (women not receiving HRT) had more fractures and more cases of colon ‍cancer than the hormone users, but on balance, the non-users still had fewer serious adverse health effects. The ‍WHI estrogen and progestin arm was prematurely stopped in July 2002 because the overall risks of the intervention ‍outweighed the benefits ( Women’s Health Initiative Investigators, 2002). ‍