HRT health scare disputed

A new study claims that Hormone Replacement Treatment could reduce the risk of heart disease.HRT was at the centre of a major health scare five years ago which linked it to an increased risk of breast cancer, heart disease and strokes.Health experts then advised HRT should be taken for as short a time as possible and in Britain it was no longer recommended as a drug to prevent bone loss in women with a family history of osteoporosis.Now new research from the US disputes previous health scares over HRT, saying the treatment used by millions of post-menopausal women may reduce, rather than increase, the risk of heart disease.The Women's Health Initiative Study discovered that any additional risks may apply only to older women.Women in their 60s and 70s still experiencing the symptoms of the menopause such as hot flushes and night sweats were at an increased risk of heart attacks and strokes even if they were not taking HRT.The study concludes: "Women who initiated hormone therapy closer to menopause tended to have reduced coronary heart disease risk compared with the increase in coronary heart disease risk among women more distant from menopause."However it said the trend "did not meet our criterion for statistical significance".HRT expert Dr John Stevenson, from London's Royal Brompton Hospital, said that the findings were a "U-turn of dramatic proportions".He added: "These conclusions are at complete variance with the widely-publicised 2002 results on which our guidance on prescribing is based."We are astonished that a study which made such a claim for the dangers of HRT is now showing just the opposite."It is an affront to science, adding insult to injury to the thousands of women who abandoned HRT as a result."© Independent Television News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.

ITN | April 9, 2007

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