Hormone replacement therapy (HRT, menopausal)
DEHormonersatztherapie (HRT, menopausal)
Menopausal HRT replaces estrogen, usually combined with a progestogen if you have a uterus. It relieves hot flushes and other vasomotor symptoms, protects your bones, and treats genitourinary symptoms. Per the WHI re-analyses and the 'timing hypothesis', the benefit-risk balance is better if you start it within roughly ten years of menopause, or before age 60. The risk of blood clots (VTE) is higher with oral estrogen than with transdermal (skin) forms. And the breast-cancer risk is higher with combined estrogen-plus-progestogen than with estrogen alone, rising with longer use. HRT is symptom- and risk-directed therapy. It is not a proven life-extension treatment.
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Sources
- Rossouw JE, Anderson GL, Prentice RL et al. (WHI Investigators). (2002). Risks and Benefits of Estrogen Plus Progestin in Healthy Postmenopausal Women: Principal Results From the Women's Health Initiative Randomized Controlled Trial. *JAMA*doi:10.1001/jama.288.3.321
- Manson JE, Chlebowski RT, Stefanick ML et al.. (2013). Menopausal hormone therapy and health outcomes during the intervention and extended poststopping phases of the Women's Health Initiative randomized trials. *JAMA*doi:10.1001/jama.2013.278040