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Estrogen Levels Tied to Risk for Sudden Cardiac Death in Study

Posted 13 days ago by Drugs.com

FRIDAY, May 10 – Higher levels of the hormone estrogen are associated with an increased risk of sudden cardiac death in men and women, a new study suggests. Sudden cardiac death can occur when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating (sudden cardiac arrest). Each year in the United States, more than 350,000 people die of sudden cardiac death. Researchers examined data from people in Portland, Ore., who suffered sudden cardiac death or had coronary artery disease. Tests of plasma taken at the time of death or during a doctor's visit indicated that both groups had a similar proportion of common heart risk factors such as diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. But levels of testosterone were much lower among men and slightly higher among women in the sudden cardiac death group compared to those with coronary artery disease, according to the study, which is ... Read more

Artificial Ovaries Could Potentially Deliver Hormone Therapy

Posted 29 Mar 2013 by Drugs.com

FRIDAY, March 29 – It might be possible to create artificial ovaries in the laboratory to provide a more natural form of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for women, researchers report. As well as producing eggs, ovaries secrete hormones that are important for bone and heart health. Production of these hormones stops due to menopause, as well as surgical removal of the ovaries, chemotherapy and radiation treatments for certain types of cancer. There are hormone replacement medications, but long-term use of the drugs is generally avoided due to the increased risk of heart disease and breast cancer, according to the authors of a new study published in the March issue of the journal Biomaterials. In this study, a team from the Institute of Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center reported that ovaries created in the lab showed sustained release of the female sex ... Read more

Hormone Pills in Menopause May Carry Gallstone Side Effects

Posted 19 Mar 2013 by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, March 19 – Taking estrogen pills increases a menopausal woman's risk of needing gallbladder surgery to treat complications of gallstones, according to a new study. But there does not appear to be an increased risk for women who take estrogen through skin patches or gels, called transdermal methods. The study appears March 18 in the CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). Researchers analyzed data gathered from more than 70,000 women in France between 1992 and 2008. In France, transdermal hormone therapy is preferred, while oral hormone therapy (pills or tablets) tends to be favored in North America and the United Kingdom, a journal news release noted. "Complicated gallstone disease should be added to the list of potential adverse events to be considered when balancing the benefits and risks associated with menopausal hormone therapy," said Dr. Antoine Racine, of the ... Read more

Short-Term, Early HRT May Cut Women's Alzheimer's Risk: Study

Posted 24 Oct 2012 by Drugs.com

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 24 – It is said that timing is everything. When it comes to taking hormone replacement therapy, that may indeed be true. A new study has found that taking hormone replacement therapy within five years of menopause may reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease by 30 percent compared to women who have not used hormone therapy. The researchers set out to better understand why some previous studies had shown hormones were effective in reducing Alzheimer's risk while others had not. The Women's Health Initiative Memory Study, a large, multicenter trial, was stopped prematurely in 2002 due to concerns that the hormones might be raising the risks of cardiovascular disease, cancer and dementia. "The Women's Health study put a cloud over doing further research," said Peter Zandi, author of the latest study and an associate professor at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg ... Read more

Hormone Replacement Therapy: Safe or Not?

Posted 24 Oct 2012 by Drugs.com

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 24 – Is hormone replacement therapy safe or not? It has taken a decade of research to arrive at a conclusion that is far from definitive: The evidence suggests it may help in the short term to manage hot flashes and other symptoms of menopause in some younger, healthy women. But, taking it for long periods of time or later in menopause to help prevent certain chronic diseases isn't recommended. On Monday, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force once again backed the idea that long-term use later in menopause is unwise when it released recommendations that said the increased health risks outweighed the benefits of using the treatment in that medical scenario. That was not always the prevailing view in the medical community, however. For years, it was common for women suffering from hot flashes, night sweats and other life-disrupting symptoms of menopause to go on hormone ... Read more

New Research Suggests HRT May Lower Heart Risks

Posted 10 Oct 2012 by Drugs.com

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 10 – New research suggests that women who take hormone replacement therapy in the early stages of menopause may have a reduced risk of heart attack, heart failure or dying. This apparent benefit comes without a heightened risk of cancer or blood clots, the Danish researchers said. These health risks have long been a concern of menopausal women and their doctors when considering hormone therapy. The study, published Oct. 9 in the BMJ, even found evidence of a trend toward a lower risk of breast cancer, although this was not statistically significant, said study author Dr. Louise Lind Schierbeck. However, two doctors not associated with the study said the findings weren't enough to convince them to recommend hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to head off heart problems. But they – and many doctors – would prescribe low doses of the therapy for short durations to treat ... Read more

Medical Groups Agree on Use of Hormone-Replacement Therapy

Posted 9 Jul 2012 by Drugs.com

MONDAY, July 9 – A coalition of leading medical groups has concluded that hormone-replacement therapy can be useful and safe for many women suffering from the symptoms of menopause. The coalition includes 15 medical groups, including the North American Menopause Society, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, the Endocrine Society and the American Academy of Family Physicians. The goal of the statement, released Monday, is to reassure women and doctors that hormone-replacement therapy (HRT) is acceptable and relatively safe for healthy, symptomatic, recently postmenopausal women, the statement authors said in a news release. "Over the last 10 years, there has been a complete abandonment of hormone therapy in some settings accompanied by reluctance to treat women who would benefit from relief of their [menopausal] symptoms. As a result, some women have sought unproven ... Read more

HRT Update: Therapy May Reduce Fractures, Boost Some Risks

Posted 28 May 2012 by Drugs.com

MONDAY, May 28 – Updated evidence on hormone replacement therapy for menopausal women presents good news for those at risk of osteoporosis, but a mixed bag of results regarding breast cancer and other chronic diseases. While estrogen-only and estrogen-plus-progestin formulations reduce the risk of fractures, both increase the odds for stroke and other conditions including gallbladder disease, according to a new update of available evidence compiled for the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, an independent expert panel that is revising its guidelines. Estrogen-plus-progestin therapy raises the risk of breast cancer and probable dementia, while estrogen alone reduces the risk of breast cancer, the researchers found. "We looked at all the published studies on hormone therapy for the prevention of chronic disease," said Dr. Heidi Nelson, who led the update. "What is new here is, we've ... Read more

Birth Control Pills, HRT Tied to Digestive Ills

Posted 21 May 2012 by Drugs.com

MONDAY, May 21 – The use of oral contraceptives by younger women or hormone therapy by older women may be linked with inflammatory bowel disease, new research indicates. Birth control pills are associated with a higher risk for Crohn's disease, said researcher Dr. Hamed Khalili, a clinical and research fellow of gastroenterology at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Crohn's causes inflammation of the lining and wall of the large or small intestine, or both. The lining can become so inflamed it bleeds. Hormone replacement therapy taken by some women after menopause is linked with ulcerative colitis, the study found. It is a disease of the colon (large intestine) or rectum. It causes diarrhea, abdominal cramping and rectal bleeding. Khalili presented the findings Sunday at the Digestive Disease Week meeting, in San Diego. Of the two links they found, Khalili said, the association ... Read more

Long-Term Estrogen Therapy Does Up Breast Cancer Risk: Study

Posted 2 Apr 2012 by Drugs.com

SUNDAY, April 1 – Several weeks after a study suggested that women who take estrogen-only hormone replacement to treat menopause symptoms may be at lower risk for developing breast cancer, another, much-larger study finds that when used for longer than 10 years, estrogen-only regimens actually raise a woman's long-term risk for breast cancer. The new study was funded by the National Cancer Institute, part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, whereas the previous one was partially funded by drug manufacturer Wyeth. Researchers evaluated follow-up data from the Nurse's Health Study collected from 1980 through 2008. The women in the study were 30 to 55 years old in 1976. Overall, the risk for breast cancer was 88 percent higher among women who had taken estrogen plus progesterone for 10 to 14.9 years, compared to women who did not. This risk more than doubled for women who used ... Read more

Estrogen-Only Hormone Therapy May Reduce Breast Cancer Risk for Some

Posted 9 Dec 2010 by Drugs.com

THURSDAY, Dec. 9 – In a finding that seems to counter the prevailing wisdom that any form of hormone replacement therapy raises the risk of breast cancer, a new look at some old data suggests that estrogen-only hormone therapy might protect a small subset of postmenopausal women against the disease. "Exogenous estrogen [such as hormone therapy] is actually protective" in women who have a low risk for developing breast tumors, said study author Dr. Joseph Ragaz, a medical oncologist and clinical professor in the School of Population & Public Health at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. With his colleagues, Ragaz took another look at data from the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) study, a national trial that has focused on ways to prevent breast and colorectal cancer, as well as heart disease and fracture risk, in postmenopausal women. The team planned to present its ... Read more

Study Shows HRT Even Riskier Than Thought

Posted 19 Oct 2010 by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, Oct. 19 – Not only does prolonged use of hormone replacement therapy raise the risk of breast cancer, new research finds, but it also ups the risk for more severe forms of the disease and increases a woman's chances of dying. A study appearing in the Oct. 20 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association is at odds with previous observational studies that had suggested a raised risk of breast cancer, but only for less aggressive and more treatable tumors. The researchers added that this is the first time an increase in mortality has been shown. The findings apply only to estrogen-plus-progestin, or combined hormone therapy, not estrogen-alone therapy. "It looks like all categories of breast cancer are increased," said study author Dr. Rowan Chlebowski. "The preponderance of observational studies had suggested that the cancers would have a more favorable outcome but ... Read more

Estrogen Therapy May Be Linked to Kidney Stones

Posted 11 Oct 2010 by Drugs.com

MONDAY, Oct. 11 – Estrogen therapy may increase the risk of kidney stones in postmenopausal women, a new study suggests. For the study, researchers examined data on postmenopausal women in the United States, gathered from two trials in the Women's Health Initiative study. One trial included 10,739 women who had had a hysterectomy, and who received either an estrogen-only treatment or placebo, and were followed for an average of 7.1 years. The other included 16,608 women without hysterectomy who received either estrogen plus progestin therapy or placebo, and who were followed for an average of 5.6 years. There were 335 cases of kidney stones reported among women in the treatment groups and 284 cases among those in the placebo groups, the investigators found. The annual kidney stone incidence rate per 10,000 women per year was 39 in the treatment groups and 34 in the placebo groups, ... Read more

No Evidence Estrogen Causes Lung Cancer Post-Hysterectomy

Posted 16 Aug 2010 by Drugs.com

FRIDAY, Aug. 13 – Taking estrogen doesn't increase the risk of developing or dying from lung cancer among postmenopausal women who've had a hysterectomy, a new study has found. Previous research about the effects of combined estrogen plus progestin therapy produced conflicting results and no studies have clarified the influence of the use of estrogen alone, the authors of the new study noted. The researchers, Dr. Rowan T. Chlebowski, of the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute, and colleagues analyzed data from 10,739 women, aged 50 to 79, who had undergone a hysterectomy and who had been randomly selected to take estrogen or a placebo as part of the Women's Health Initiative trial. There were 34 lung cancer deaths among women in the estrogen group, compared with 33 such deaths in the placebo group, according to the report published online Aug. 13 in the Journal of the National ... Read more

Weight a Factor in Breast Cancer Risk After HRT Use

Posted 10 Aug 2010 by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, Aug. 10 – Another analysis of data on hormone therapy use among U.S. women finds that the panorama of risks is even more complex than previously thought: Thinner women taking it showed a higher risk of developing breast cancer than heavier women. The California researchers also found that the longer a woman used either estrogen-alone therapy or estrogen-plus-progestin therapy, the higher the risk of disease. Similar results were seen for women who used combined therapy continuously rather than taking breaks during the month. "This gives us a clear correlation between the length of treatment and risk," said Dr. Freya Schnabel, director of breast surgery at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City. "Ad hoc, people had made the assumption that, for the most part, shorter was better, but this definitely gives you some parameters on that." Given that current recommendations on ... Read more

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Postmenopausal Symptoms, Atrophic Vaginitis, Atrophic Urethritis, Osteoporosis, Oophorectomy, Hypoestrogenism, Primary Ovarian Failure