Hormone therapy (HT) has been a controversial topic with women and even some doctors after a damning and controversial early 2000s study linked the treatment for menopause symptoms to an increased risk of several cancers and heart disease. While that research is now seen as flawed, there has been a lot of hesitation for both doctors and women in menopause to use this form of therapy, especially after the age of 65.
Now, new research finds that women who use hormone therapy after age 65 are usually fine to do just that. Hormone therapy is considered the most effective treatment option for managing intense symptoms linked with menopause, including hot flashes, night sweats, vaginal dryness and bone loss. The latest study in the journal Menopause found that using estrogen monotherapy — in other words, just taking estrogen alone — was linked with significant reductions in risk for mortality, breast cancer, lung cancer, colorectal cancer, congestive heart failure, venous thromboembolism (when a blood clot forms in a vein), atrial fibrillation, acute myocardial infarction (aka, a heart attack) and dementia.
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