Government panel: Hormone therapy ‘not recommended’
Researchers also saw no difference in breast cancer risk between those who were assigned the hormone therapy and those who were not. “It really confirms the timing hypothesis and hopefully will change the way we look at hormone therapy, so it will change the quality of life for many women,” said study author Dr. Louise Schierbeck, who works in the department of endocrinology at Hvidovre Hospital in Denmark. The women took estrogen for about ten years until 2002, when another study, the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI), found significant evidence that women taking progestin and estrogen were more likely to develop aggressive breast cancer. Although WHI researchers studied 160,000 women ages 50 to 79, many of whom had chronic diseases already, Danish researchers studied 1,000 women ages 45 to 58, and excluded people who previously had had cancer or other major illnesses, according to the study text , which was published in the BMJ, formerly the British Medical Journal.
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Hormone therapy in the 50s not linked to memory loss
Another study found that use of oral contraception that contained both estrogen and progestin is linked to increased insulin levels. More research into how estrogen and progestin effect pancreatic cancer risk is needed, the researchers said. The new study involved more than 118,000 female public school professionals in California who were surveyed in 1995 to 1996 about their use of hormone replacement therapy and current or past use of oral contraceptives, and were followed until 2009. At the start of the study, 60 percent of the women were postmenopausal, 25 percent of whom were current users of estrogen-only HRT, and 33 percent of whom were current users of estrogen-plus-progestin HRT. During the study period, 323 women (0.27 percent) were diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. There was no link between the use of estrogen-plus-progestin HRT and pancreatic cancer risk. The age of participants at menopause, and whether they’d ever had children or breast-fed, were also not associated with pancreatic cancer risk.
For the original version including any supplementary images or video, visit http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/09/13/hormone-replacement-therapy-may-reduce-pancreatic-cancer-risk/
Hormone replacement therapy may reduce pancreatic cancer risk
Researchers tracked more than 1,300 women who had been given hormone medications called conjugated equine estrogens (CEEs). The treatment consists of a synthetic mixture of estrogen, or female sex hormones, and is used to treat symptoms of menopause, including hot flashes and vaginal dryness. Hormone replacement therapy may also help stave off bone loss for older women. But, previous research of women over 65 has linked the medication to cognitive deficits like memory loss and a two-fold risk increase for dementia. For the new study, researchers randomized postmenopausal women between the ages of 50 and 55 to either receiving hormone therapy or placebo.
For the original version including any supplementary images or video, visit http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-204_162-57590901/hormone-replacement-therapy-not-linked-to-memory-woes-in-postmenopausal-women/
Hormone replacement therapy not linked to memory woes in postmenopausal women
Currently, the government-backed U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends that postmenopausal women avoid hormone replacement therapy due to increased risks of heart disease, stroke, breast cancer and dementia. Some research, however, has suggested there may be a “window of opportunity” when women first enter menopause that allows the safe use of hormones to possibly decrease their risk of conditions such as heart disease. What the effects would be on younger women’s brains, however, has been unclear. For the new study, Espeland and his colleagues used data on 1,326 women between the ages of 50 and 55 in the Women’s Health Initiative Memory Study to see whether taking estrogen or estrogen and progesterone led to any problems or benefits in brain health. The women were assigned to take estrogen, estrogen and progesterone or a placebo for about seven years at the beginning of the study between 1996 and 1999.
For the original version including any supplementary images or video, visit http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/26/us-hormone-therapy-idUSBRE95P1CT20130626
Carolyn Crandall, a professor of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. “I don’t think the recommendations are surprising at all.” The question used to shape the draft recommendations, which were posted online Tuesday , is whether hormone therapy should be used by menopausal women to prevent a hypothetical future health event such as heart disease or cognitive decline, Bibbins-Domingo said. “These are women who don’t have disease, who don’t have menopause symptoms, who are using the therapies only to prevent something that might happen in the future,” said Bibbins-Domingo, an associate professor of medicine, epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco. “There is no evidence that the therapies would prevent those conditions.” Years ago, in addition to providing relief for menopause symptoms, hormone therapy was thought to offer protection against cardiovascular problems, osteoporosis and dementia, so doctors routinely prescribed it to otherwise healthy women. That practice fell out of favor about 10 years ago when a large clinical trial — the Women’s Health Initiative — designed to confirm these hypotheses was halted early.
For the original version including any supplementary images or video, visit http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/29/health/conditions/hormone-replacement-therapy/index.html
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