Israeli Study Finds No Higher Heart Risk With Modern Hormone Therapy

Hormone therapy has long worried women about their hearts, but a new study offers reassurance. Israeli researchers used Clalit Health Services records for 52,330 women aged 45 to 59 with no prior heart disease, blood clots or cancer. Half started contemporary hormone therapy, mostly oral or patch, while the matched comparison group never did.

After an average of twelve years of follow-up, heart attack, stroke or related heart disease occurred in 4.4 percent of the therapy group versus 4.6 percent of the comparison group. Early death before age eighty was 1.3 percent versus 1.2 percent, and blood clots appeared in 174 versus 175 women. Results were similar across oral, patch and gel forms.

This is a preliminary observational study, so it cannot prove cause and effect. Unmeasured factors like exercise, diet, other conditions and symptom severity may have influenced the outcomes, and women were grouped by first therapy type only. Anyone considering menopause treatment should weigh personal risks and benefits with their doctor.