HRT could help arthritis

Women on hormone replacement therapy could be saving themselves from the crippling pain of osteoarthritis in their knees, according to doctors.

Researchers in Australia have found that HRT may help prevent the disease, which causes the cartilage to become rougher and thinner.

A team at the Alfred Hospital in Victoria examined 81 women, 42 of whom had taken HRT for at least five years and 39 who had never used it.

All were over 50 and had gone through the menopause, says the study in the medical journal Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. Doctors scanned the women to measure the amount of cartilage in their knee joints.

Those on HRT had 7.7 per cent more than those not on the treatment. Professor Flavia Cicuttini, who headed the study, said: 'It suggests that use of HRT for more than five years is associated with greater knee cartilage volume.'

Robina Lloyd, of the charity Arthritis Care, said: 'We know HRT works in osteoporosis, but this is the first suggestion that it could be helpful in preventing osteoarthritis of the knee. It does add up because of the way the hormone works. But we need further research.'

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