THURSDAY, Oct. 1, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Women who start hormone therapy toward the beginning of menopause may have a lower risk of developing coronary heart disease, new research suggests. The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the North American Menopause Society, held from Sept. 30 to Oct. 3 in Las Vegas.
Researchers led by German Carrasquilla, M.D., of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, combined the results of five Swedish studies. The studies began between 1991 and 2006. They had information on 74,352 women who were followed for up to 23 years.
During that period, 4,714 women developed or died from coronary heart disease. But compared with women who'd never used hormone therapy, those who'd begun it within five years of their first menopause symptoms remained free of coronary heart disease longer -- 1.3 years, on average. That advantage was seen even when the researchers accounted for other major factors such as age, education level, smoking habits, weight, and hypertension.
"Early initiation of menopausal hormone therapy with respect to menopause onset was associated with a decreased risk of future incident CHD, while late initiation was associated with an increased risk," the authors write.
Abstract No. S-17
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