A critical analysis of estrogen therapy studies

Sometimes the scientific evidence for estrogen therapy during menopause is poor or moderately good.

Estrogen therapy during menopause is both good and bad for health. The picture is complex and the available scientific evidence is sometimes weak or fairly good. Shows a study published in the journal MEDICINE PLOS.

The study is a systematic review and critical analysis of previous research in this field and has been carried out by researchers at several universities, including the University of Gothenburg, Stanford University and Chongqing Medical University of China.

Low or moderately good quality

Study data includes several published studies focusing on women’s health related to estrogen hormone therapy during menopause. All health effects established by previous systematic reviews and recorded in the leading databases up to 2017 were included in the new study.

The researchers who conducted the study do not claim that research findings from previous studies are incorrect, but they do give an overall picture that the quality of the systematic research reviews they reviewed is low, or only moderately good.

Other treatments may be considered

Among other things, there is clinical data supporting that estrogen therapy in menopause reduces the risk of coronary heart disease. The researchers also found similar vulnerabilities with hormone therapy associated with general mortality in women up to age 60, or ten years after their last menstrual period.

says lead author of the study Guo-Qiang Zhang, a doctoral student at the Krefting Research Center at Academic Sahlgrenska at the University of Gothenburg in one press release.

He continues, saying that the full range of effects should be taken into account when deciding on estrogen therapy, as well as women’s particular preferences, and that non-hormonal treatments may also be considered.

Read more: Breast-conserving surgery for breast cancer offers a better chance of survival [Dagens PS]