HRT A-OK for Hot Flashes

In the past, hormone replacement therapy (HRT) has been touted for its beneficial effects on heart disease and osteoporosis, two major causes of injury and mortality in postmenopausal women. Now, however, it seems that HRTs greatest usefulness may be limited to the treatment of those women with hot flashes.

Recently, drugs such as Evista, Fosamax and Actonel have been shown to do a much better job than HRT at treating and preventing osteoporosis.

Likewise, data from recent studies has prompted experts to warn that HRT should not be used for the prevention of heart disease. Instead, there has been a tremendous effort to screen and treat high cholesterol, high blood pressure and obesity, the major causes of heart disease.

Dr. Mark A. Hlatky, of Stanford University School of Medicine, and his team of researchers reviewed three years of data from the Heart and Estrogen/Progestin Replacement Study (HERS).

The research involved 2,763 postmenopausal women who took either 0.625 mg of estrogen plus 2.5 mg of progesterone, or a placebo (sugar pill).

The results, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, showed that women with hot flashes felt better with HRT. They showed improved mental health and fewer depressive symptoms compared to those taking the placebo.

On the other hand, the women who were initially free of symptoms did not show any benefit from HRT.

Thus, Dr. Hlatky concluded, "Hormone therapy has mixed effects on quality of life among older women. The effects of hormone therapy depend on the presence of menopausal symptoms ... women with flushing had improvements in emotional measures of quality of life."