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Timing of menopausal HT initiation influences risk for CHD
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Health effects of menopausal hormone therapy, especially heart disease, differ among women based on when they started treatment, according to recent study findings presented at The North American Menopause Society Annual Meeting.
“We realized that, for all of the studies completed, few take into consideration the timing of HT initiation in relation to the onset of menopause,” Germán Carrasquilla, MD, of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, said in a press release. “What we found is that there is a difference with regard to the onset of coronary heart disease depending on when a woman started taking hormones and when she started menopause.”
Carrasquilla and colleagues evaluated data from five population-based Swedish cohort studies on 74,352 women to determine whether early and late initiation of menopausal HT can be linked to the development of CHD. There was a maximum 22.7 years of follow-up. Researchers evaluated the links between HT and risk for CHD by estimating the first and fifth survival percentile differences.
Overall, there were 4,714 first-time CHD events.
Early initiation (ie, within 5 years from menopause onset) of HT was linked to a longer period of time free from CHD events after adjustment for confounders compared with women who never used HT: first percentile difference of 0.31 years and fifth percentile difference of 1.34 years. Late initiation (ie, more than 5 years since menopause onset) of HT was linked to a shorter period of time free from CHD events after adjustment for confounders compared with women who never used HT: first percentile difference of – 1.02 years and fifth percentile difference of 0.05 years.
“With all the conflicting data, studies like this are valuable in helping clinicians and their patients sort out the real impact of hormones and determine who are the best candidates for this therapy,” Wulf Utian, MD, PhD, executive director of The North American Menopause Society, said in the release. – by Amber Cox
Reference:
Carrasquilla GD, et al. S-17. Presented at: The North American Menopause Society Annual Meeting; Sept. 30-Oct. 3, 2015; Las Vegas.
Disclosure: Endocrine Today was unable to confirm any relevant financial disclosures.