Today I share a “perspective” written by Dr. Nanette Santoro about a recent study published in JAMA Open Network: Hormone Therapy and Biological Aging in Women.
A summary of the study is written up by the team at Healio followed by Dr. Santoro’s perspective.
If you do nothing else, her perspective is worth a read. It responds to this study but has a broader message as well. I see too many messages on social media claiming that Menopausal Hormone Therapy (MHT) will fend off cardiovascular disease and dementia. And while it would be wonderful if that were true, the data is not there.
What is true is that for those with hot flashes and night sweats, MHT can be a great remedy and should be readily available. But the pendulum associated with fear of MHT from the post-Women’s Health Initiative has swung too far. MHT is now being claimed to do things beyond what we know from research to date.
This is a publication for the times. Menopause is having a moment and everyone wants to take a “position” on it. However, when you look at the factual data that are out there, there is not a lot of support for HT being a miraculous life extension therapy. I fear that this publication will make headlines with that tag. The best the authors can attribute to hormones here is a 0.2-year improvement in “aging.” That is a month or two of life in exchange for years — or perhaps decades — of taking hormones. And those women will have to gamble that they escape the known risks for breast cancer, blood clots and dementia to make those 2 months worthwhile.— Nanette Santoro, MD
Professor and the E. Stewart Taylor Chair of OB/GYN
University of Colorado School of Medicine
Related
- Menopausal Hormone Therapy Chart: understand the range of products by how you take them
- What to know about compounded MHT and how it differs from FDA-approved products. (A 3-part blog post)
- The History of Menopausal Hormone Therapy has many chapters. The pendulum — pro vs con — is still swinging. While it is the most effective treatment for hot flashes and night sweats, the research to date does not provide clear answers for other benefits.
Study citation: Liu YLi C. Hormone Therapy and Biological Aging in Postmenopausal Women. JAMA Netw Open.2024;7(8):e2430839. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.30839
