September 2008

Study confirms link between RHT, strokes

Postmenopausal women taking replacement hormone therapy appear to have an increased risk of stroke regardless of when they started treatment, according to a report in the April 28 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.

Researchers evaluated stroke risk associated with hormone therapy in 121,700 women (age 30 to 55 at the beginning of the study) who participated in the Nurses' Health Study from 1976 to 2004. There were 360 cases of stroke among women who had never used hormones and 414 cases of stroke among women who were currently using hormones.

Compared to women who had never used hormones, women currently taking hormone therapy had an increased risk for stroke (39 percent for those taking estrogen and 27 percent for those taking estrogen with progestin). "This increased risk was observed for women initiating hormone therapy at young ages or near menopause and at older ages or more than 10 years after menopause," the authors wrote.

"In summary, our findings in the Nurses' Health Study indicate that hormone therapy is associated with an increased risk of stroke, regardless of the hormone regime or the timing of hormone therapy initiation," the researchers concluded.