HRT straight af ter menopause ‘ lowers risk of heart disease’

HORMONE replacement therapy soon after the menopause may protect against heart disease, research suggests.

Scientists found that women who took oestrogen HRT pills within six years of their periods stopping were less likely to suffer blocked arteries, which can cause heart attacks and strokes.

Around one million British women take HRT to cope with menopause symptoms including depression, hot flushes, headaches and night sweats.

The treatment tackles these by providing oestrogen as the body stops producing it, commonly in women’s late 40s and early 50s.

But the numbers who take the drug have plummeted since the early 2000s when two studies raised concerns that it increased the risk of certain forms of cancer.

However, new evidence suggests the threat of cancer may have been overstated and HRT may also protect against other health problems such as heart disease.

A study led by US researchers at the University of Southern California divided 600 women into two groups – those who had gone through the menopause less than six years earlier, and those who were more than ten years beyond the menopause.

In each group, half took oestrogen replacement pills and half took a placebo. For the next five years, the women were tested for build-ups of fatty plaques in their arteries. Those in the early HRT group had much slower rates of build-ups, reducing their risk of heart problems. Those who had not started taking HRT until a decade after the menopause had similar rates of fat build-up as those who had taken the placebo.

The study’s lead author Professor Howard Hodis, of the Keck School of Medicine at the USC, said: ‘This provides the first direct evidence from human investigation that tim- ing of hormone therapy is imperative for success in the prevention of atherosclerosis progression, the primary underlying pathway that leads to heart disease and stroke.’

The scientists are now conducting further research to establish why HRT is more effective in the earlier stages of the menopause.

After studies in 2002 and 2003 showed HRT increased the risk of breast cancer, the percentage of menopausal women on the drug fell from 36 per cent to around 10 per cent today.

But the NHS watchdog Nice issued new guidance last year saying that out of 1,000 women taking HRT for five years, there would only be six extra cases of breast cancer and 1.5 additional cases of ovarian cancer. It advised GPs to offer the drug to women with the most severe menopause symptoms – around one in five.

June Davison, of the British Heart Foundation, said last night the new study supports the theory that HRT ‘may have a cardiovascular benefit when initiated at the earlier stages of post-menopause’.

But she added: ‘These findings do not change current guidance. While hormone therapy can be very effective at helping to relieve menopausal symptoms, currently it is not recommended for preventing cardiovascular events.’

‘The first direct

evidence’