Hormone therapy less risky for younger women-study

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Younger women may be able to take
hormone replacement therapy without raising their risk of heart
disease, U.S. researchers reported on Monday in a study aimed
at reducing some of the confusion surrounding HRT.

Women who started taking the drugs as they began menopause
– which typically starts in the mid-40s and lasts through the
mid-50s — had a 30 percent lower risk of heart disease than
women who did not take them, the researchers found.

The findings contrast with those of a highly publicized
2002 study called the Women’s Health Initiative or WHI, which
found HRT raised the risk of heart attack, stroke, breast
cancer and other serious conditions. After it came out,
millions of women stopped HRT and sought alternatives.

“It may help to untangle some of the confusion,” said Dr.
JoAnn Manson of Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s
Hospital in Boston, who worked on both studies.

After the 2002 Women’s Health Initiative was published,
experts cautioned women to only take HRT in the lowest possible
doses and for the shortest possible time.

Sales of Wyeth’s Premarin and the company’s other female
hormone replacement drug, Prempro, fell dramatically and the
company, the biggest maker of HRT, announced plans to close at
least one plant and to lay off sales staff.

But HRT remained popular in part because doctors had
observed that women taking the drugs were less likely to have
heart disease over the long term. Manson and others who worked
on the WHI study noted the women in it were on average 63 — a
decade past menopause.

They wondered what would happen with younger women, just
entering menopause.

So they used data from the Nurses’ Health Study, an ongoing
study of 121,700 female nurses, age 30 to 55 when it started in
1976. Every two years these women have filled out detailed
questionnaires on their health, habits and medications. When
they died, their medical records were carefully added.

30 PERCENT LOWER RISK

The nurses’ data showed that if women took HRT at younger
ages, they had a 30 percent lower risk of heart disease than
women the same age who did not take HRT.

“It does suggest that women who are good candidates for
hormone therapy because they are recently menopausal and having
moderate to severe hot flashes and are at low risk of heart
disease may not need to be alarmed about the (earlier)
findings,” Manson said in a telephone interview.

“The evidence is beginning to converge. But it is certainly
not conclusive. We don’t want people running out and taking
hormone therapy and thinking it was going to protect their
heart and that there are no risks involved.”

Writing in the Journal of Women’s Health, Manson and
colleagues stress that more research is needed.

The 2002 findings have caused doctors to take a fresh look
at menopause, and many have criticized the idea that it is a
medical condition that needs drug treatment.

Some studies suggest many symptoms attributed to menopause
may be natural consequences of aging, including reduced libido,
higher risk of heart attack and forgetfulness.

Other critics have suggested the formulation of HRT may be
a factor. Women in both the 2002 and the 2006 studies mostly
took Premarin or Prempro, which are made using pregnant horse
urine.