United States: A recent study found that certain hormone replacement therapy (HRT) pills can increase the risk of heart disease and also blood clots in women going through menopause. The study showed that estrogen/progestin pills raised the risk of heart disease by almost 21% and the risk of life-threatening blood clots by 61%.
Additionally, a synthetic hormone pill called tibolone was found to increase the risk of heart disease by 46% and nearly double the chances of having a stroke or heart attack. These findings suggest that women using these treatments may face higher health risks.
But tibolone did not raise the risk of blood clots, which the investigators said, ‘demonstrates that different hormones have differential effects on cardiovascular disease.’
As reported by the HealthDay, tibolone is not available for use in the United States and the authors observed a declining usage in Sweden.
“This drop is encouraging; however, in 2018, approximately 1000 women initiated tibolone, which is estimated to have caused one stroke or … heart disease event,” the researchers wrote.
They are used another to treat menopause symptoms for instance, hot flashes, and night sweating.
In the study, and for the full sample, data were collected on over 919000 healthy women aged 50 to 58 years, residing in Sweden from 2007 to 2020.
Based on monthly prescription records, the women were assigned to one of seven groups of participations according to the type of HRT they received. An eighth group did not undertake any hormone therapy.
Over 24 thousand heart related problems were documented in the course of a two year monitoring period.
Postmenopausal women undergoing estrogen/progestin or tibolone therapy had a relative risk of 1.11 per annum, suggesting approximately 11 additional cases of cardiovascular disease per 1000 women initiating therapy, investigators reported.
In observing hormone replacement therapies administered through the skin and in the form of patch, gel or cream, the authors discovered no greater vulnerability to heart diseases.
But these skin applications did raise the danger of fatal blood clots, studies reveal.
Its authors stated that these results indicate that more research is needed into how hormone therapy may either reduce or increase a menopausal woman’s risk of heart disease.
Oestrogens orally administered are processed in the liver and numerous coagulation factors in the body are creating in the same gland, according to the researchers. This may force the liver to secrete more coagulants which may pose a real threat of forming deadly blood.