- Hormone therapy is used to help alleviate menopausal symptoms like hot flashes.
- Menopausal hormone therapy has some known risks, including an increased risk of blood clots.
- Researchers from the University of Texas Medical Branch have found that adding statin therapy may help lower venous thromboembolism risk in women taking menopausal hormone therapy.
Hormone therapy is available to postmenopausal women to help alleviate some uncomfortable symptoms, such as hot flashes.
There are some potential risks to taking menopausal hormone therapy, a few of which center around the heart. These include a
Now, researchers from the University of Texas Medical Branch have found that statin therapy may help lower the risk of venous thromboembolismm (VTE) or deep vein thromboembolism (DVT) — a condition that happens when blood clots form in the veins — in women taking menopausal hormone therapy.
The study was recently published in the journal
Corresponding study author Dr. Susan C. Weller, professor in the Department of Population Health Science and Health Disparities at the University of Texas Medical Branch, noted the Women’s Health Initiative results appeared two decades ago.
This means many clinicians have been reluctant to prescribe estrogen therapy because of the Women’s Health Initiative finding that menopausal therapy caused women to have venous thromboembolism, she said.
“Venous thromboembolisms are potentially life threatening clots that can form in the arms and legs and may travel to the lungs,” Dr. Weller told Medical News Today. “And indeed, oral conjugated equine estrogen — with and without progestin — is associated with (a) higher risk of possible clots.”
In a
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