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20 May 2008
The use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to relieve symptoms in the first few years of menopause has been classed as safe by an international panel of experts.
At this year's global menopause summit in Zurich, experts concluded that HRT in early menopause is safe and should not be feared by healthy women looking for a treatment to relieve postmenopausal symptoms.
Following a study published by the Women's Health Initiative in 2002, suggesting that HRT increased the risk of breast cancer and heart disease, the medical industry saw a decline in the use of the therapy.
According to the summit's review, combined oestrogen and progesterone does not increase chronic heart disease risk in healthy women aged between 50 and 59, while oestrogen alone has been found to decrease the risk in this age bracket.
In terms of breast cancer risk, the experts agreed that short-to-medium term use of oestrogen-only HRT does not increase a woman's risk of developing the disease.
One of the clinicians in attendance, Dr Roger Lobo from Columbia University, New York, said: "Each woman is an individual, and it's important that she comes to an agreement with her doctor about using HRT.
"But the take-home message from this important summit is that for young healthy women at the onset of menopause, there is very little risk and the benefits outweigh the risks for women with symptoms."
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