Menopausal Hormone Therapy: Limited Benefits, Significant Harms

Studies have found that combined hormone therapy increased gallbladder disease and deaths from lung cancer, as well as increased risk of invasive breast cancer.

Posted in News | Tagged health and gender, Health Justice, program director, Publications, research

Program Co-Director Adriane Fugh-Berman and colleague Dr. Mintzes recently published an editorial in the American Family Physician Journal highlighting the shaky evidence for menopausal hormone therapy, as well as potential risks to consumers.

While it can provide limited benefits, they find that significant risks associated with the therapy (including “increased…risk of invasive breast cancer, pulmonary embolism, and stroke”) are regularly downplayed in the press.

Further, “[numerous] symptoms attributed to menopause,” which menopausal hormone therapy claims to treat, “including aches and pains, tiredness, incontinence, and mood disorders, are equally common among older men and more fairly attributed to aging.”

Read the full editorial for free in the American Family Physician.