The superfood that helps the heart and is good against fatigue
Jun 11, 2023Menopause: How can women take care of their skin in their 50s and beyond
Jul 28, 2023Studying partial remission of type 1 diabetes in children: New biomarkers and the immunoregulatory role of microRNA
Jun 09, 2023Masculen Titan Male Enhancement Reviews
Jul 02, 2023What are T Cells?
Jun 12, 2023Hormone patches or creams for menopause symptoms may have lower blood pressure risk than pills
Lauran Neergaard, Associated Press Lauran Neergaard, Associated Press
Leave your feedback
WASHINGTON (AP) — Women often use hormone therapy to relieve hot flashes and other menopause symptoms — and new research suggests patches or creams may be safer for their blood pressure than pills.
As women's bodies produce lower levels of reproductive hormones during menopause their risk for heart disease rises. High blood pressure further increases that risk — but it's not clear whether there's a link with hormone therapy for menopause symptoms.
Canadian researchers wondered if the way hormones are absorbed — orally, vaginally or through the skin — could play a role.
The University of Calgary team examined health records of more than 112,000 women ages 45 and older who filled prescriptions for at least six months’ worth of estrogen-only hormone treatment between 2008 and 2019. They tracked which women went on to develop high blood pressure at least a year after starting treatment.
WATCH: Menopause is ubiquitous, so why is it often stigmatized and ignored?
While the differences weren't huge, women who took estrogen pills had a 14 percent higher risk of developing hypertension compared to those using skin patches or creams, the researchers reported Monday. Oral estrogen carried a 19 percent greater risk than vaginal versions.
The findings were published in the journal Hypertension.
Hormone therapy has a mix of risks and benefits that mean it's not for everyone. Today it's prescribed not to prevent disease but to relieve menopause-related symptoms — generally using the lowest possible dose for the shortest time. Most commonly used are combination pills of estrogen and another hormone, progestin. (Estrogen-only pills typically are prescribed to women without a uterus.)
Different versions of hormone therapy may work better for different menopause symptoms, something the study didn't address.
But it adds important clues to understanding the complex relationship between hormone therapy and blood pressure, said Dr. Garima Sharma, a women's heart specialist with Virginia's Inova Health System and the American Heart Association.
Sharma would like to see a more rigorous trial that compares different hormone versions. But she pointed to a possible biological explanation: Maybe oral estrogen affects enzymes linked to blood pressure as it's being processed, while skin and vaginal versions have much more limited activity in the body.
Still, "these findings are very clinically relevant," Sharma said in an an email, and suggest it's especially important to monitor blood pressure in women who use oral hormone therapy.
Left: File photo provided by Getty Images
By Amanda Seitz, Associated Press
By Ali Rogin, Claire Mufson
By PBS NewsHour
Lauran Neergaard, Associated Press Lauran Neergaard, Associated Press
WATCH: