Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on LinkedIn
Share by Email
Print
HealthDay News — Menopausal hormone therapy is not tied to any increase in long-term all-cause or cause-specific mortality, according to a study published in the September 12 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
JoAnn E. Manson, MD, Dr PH, from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and colleagues evaluated total and cause-specific cumulative mortality, including during the intervention and extended postintervention follow-up, for participants (aged 50 to 79 years) of the 2 Women’s Health Initiative hormone therapy trials (between 1993 and 1998 with follow up through December 31, 2014).
The researchers found that during the 18-year follow-up, there were 7,489 deaths (1,088 deaths during the intervention phase and 6,401 deaths during postintervention follow-up). All-cause mortality was 27.1% in the hormone therapy group versus 27.6% in the placebo group (hazard ratio [HR], 0.99; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.94 to 1.03) in the overall pooled cohort. For the conjugated equine estrogens (CEE) plus medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA), the HR was 1.02 (95% CI, 0.96 to 1.08), and 0.94 (95% CI, 0.88 to 1.01) for CEE alone. When comparing younger women (aged 50 to 59 years) to older women (aged 70 to 79 years) in the pooled cohort, the ratio of nominal HRs for all-cause mortality was 0.61 (95% CI, 0.43 to 0.87) during the intervention phase and 0.87 (95 percent CI, 0.76 to 1.00) during follow-up.
“Among postmenopausal women, hormone therapy with CEE plus MPA for a median of 5.6 years or with CEE alone for a median of 7.2 years was not associated with risk of all-cause, cardiovascular, or cancer mortality during a cumulative follow-up of 18 years,” the authors write.
Several authors disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry.
Abstract/Full Text (subscription or payment may be required)
Editorial (subscription or payment may be required)
