Hormone therapy can benefit women’s health during menopause, according to new research.
In the study, published Thursday in JAMA Network Open, researchers looked at more than 100,000 women in the U.K. and found being on hormone replacement therapy seems to slow biological aging.
“In this study, postmenopausal women with historical (hormone therapy) use were biologically younger than those not receiving (hormone therapy), with a more evident association observed in those with low (socioeconomic status),” the authors wrote. “Promoting (hormone therapy) in postmenopausal women could be important for healthy aging.”
Dr. Céline Gounder, CBS News medical contributor and editor-at-large for public health at KFF Health News, said Friday on “CBS Mornings” the study is “really significant.”
“It wasn’t just about how you look, it was about your risk of death, in particular from cardiovascular disease,” she said, adding the study looked at both chronological age (the age based on your date of birth) as well as biological age, which is “not just about how you look, but it’s really about your health.”
Gounder said the association might have been stronger with those of a lower socioeconomic status because aging is “also a reflection of your day-to-day stress.”
“When we talk about somebody having lived a hard life, it’s not just a question of smoking or heavy drinking or using drugs. It’s also the day-to-day stress of financial stress, worried about keeping a roof over your head, food on the table, your children’s futures — and that stress also ages you,” she said. “So of course, women of lower socioeconomic status are experiencing that more. Education is also a important factor here, being able to better access healthcare.”
The study comes after longtime public misunderstanding around horomone therapy, stemming partly, Gounder said, from studies done about 20 years ago that have since been show to be problematic in terms of how they were designed.
“Unfortunately, a lot of women were discouraged from taking hormone replacement therapy as a result of those studies,” she said.
Still, for some women, hormone therapy isn’t an option, so it’s important to talk to your doctor.
“There are some women who cannot take hormone replacement therapy. For example, if you have a history of breast cancer or blood clots,” said Gounder. “And so this really depends on who we’re talking about, the timing of when to start and how long to be on them.”