HRT: 'more harm than good'

by GEORGINA LITTLEJOHN, Metro

Hormone replacement therapy does little to relieve the symptoms of menopause, researchers said yesterday.

A study of more than 16,000 women found HRT did little to improve their quality of life - and could actually do more harm than good.

The findings will have significant repercussions around the world in the continuing debate on the benefits or dangers of taking HRT.

In the study, researchers looked at factors of health and wellbeing including sexual and sleep satisfaction, depression, mental sharpness, menopausal symptoms and physical functioning.

Half the women took HRT and the rest were given a placebo. A year into the trial, there was no significant difference in the way the women felt, report author Jennifer Hays said in the New England Journal of Medicine.

'We found very few, if any, even statistically-significant effects,' she added. 'And those effects were so small that they would not have been significant if we had had fewer than 16,000 women in our study.'

The treatment - a combination of oestrogen and progesterone for women with a uterus, and oestrogen alone for women who had a hysterectomy - is thought to protect against heart disease, colon cancer, age-related mental decline and osteoporosis.

It is also said to reduce hot flushes, night sweats and depression.

But the researchers found women taking the combination treatment had a greater risk of heart attack, stroke or life-threatening blood clot.

Dr Miriam Deeny, a gynaecologist at Stobhill Hospital in Glasgow, said it was too early

to dismiss HRT.

She added: 'One year into the trial is not long enough. If you have really dreadful symptoms, it's great, it really helps.'

Superstars are some of the biggest fans of HRT.

Actress Joan Collins says it has reduced her suffering.

'Everyone's bones get less dense from about 35,' she claimed. 'HRT is meant to compensate for some of the deficiencies women suffer beyond the menopause, so why not?

'I've never seen the point of suffering needlessly.'

Another convert is former supermodel Lauren Hutton, who has been taking the treatment for ten years.

'I attribute much of my health and vitality to HRT,' she said. 'My hot flushes and night sweats are gone. I feel great.'

Former soap siren Kate O'Mara, now 63, said: 'I have had to endure the usual miseries of women my age. It works for me, and for hundreds of other women.

'HRT has improved my quality of life immeasurably. I would recommend it to almost everyone.'

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