Another Study Sees Heart Risks in Hormone Replacement Therapy

WEDNESDAY, July 11 (HealthDay News) -- Yet another study confirms that hormone replacement therapy should not be used in older women to help prevent heart disease, although it appears to be safe and effective in relieving menopausal symptoms in younger women.

In fact, in older women hormone replacement therapy (HRT) increased the risk of cardiovascular problems and blood clots, the study found.

Results of the study -- the WISDOM trial -- were published in the July 11 online issue of the British Medical Journal.

"WISDOM confirms that there's no justification for older women using hormones for prevention of heart disease," said Dr. Wulf H. Utian, executive director of the North American Menopause Society (NAMS). "But for a generally healthy perimenopausal or early postmenopausal woman suffering from genuine menopause-related symptoms that are causing her distress, then hormones are the gold standard and are basically safe."

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The landmark U.S. Women's Health Initiative (WHI) trial was halted in 2002 after finding that postmenopausal women taking HRT had more heart attacks and strokes than women who did not use hormones.

More recent research has started to emerge suggesting that the risks may apply only to older women, not to those closer to menopause.

The WISDOM (Women's International Study of Long Duration Oestrogen After Menopause) trial was also halted after the first results of the Women's Health Initiative were published.

Unlike the Women's Health Initiative, however, WISDOM had not finished enrolling participants and wasn't big enough to draw firm conclusions, although the findings as they stand do confirm the WHI findings, Utian said.

The WISDOM trial looked at 5,692 healthy women, average age 63, in Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand.

Women who had not had a hysterectomy were randomly selected to receive combined hormone therapy (estrogen plus progesterone) or a placebo. Women who had undergone a hysterectomy were randomly chosen to receive the combined hormone treatment, estrogen alone or a placebo.