June 5, 2023 – Women who take estrogen-only pills to alleviate menopausal symptoms usually tend to be diagnosed with hypertension than women who use estrogen-only patches or creams, based on a brand new study.
Researchers on the University of Calgary examined the medical records of about 112,000 women ages 45 and older who had been prescribed various kinds of hormone treatments with estrogen alone for no less than six months between 2008 and 2019. The research team then followed the medical records to find out who developed hypertension – also called hypertension – no less than a yr after treatment.
Women who took the pills had a 14% higher risk of hypertension than women who used skin patches, based on the study published within the journal hypertensionThe risk was 19% higher in women who took the pill than in women who used vaginal creams or suppositories containing estrogen alone.
Women are prescribed estrogen as a part of hormone alternative therapy (HRT) during menopause because estrogen levels drop, sometimes causing hot flashes, vaginal dryness, and other symptoms.
Hormone alternative therapy might be given with either estrogen alone, progesterone alone, or each estrogen and progesterone. The combination often uses progestin, an artificial version of progesterone.
“This is the largest study looking only at women who take estrogen only and have never taken a progestin as HRT,” said study creator Sofia Ahmed, MD, professor on the Cumming School of Medicine on the University of Calgary ^ “CNN: The Secret World”.
In women taking oral estrogens, the danger of hypertension increases with increasing dose and duration of taking the drug, Ahmed said.