New HRT scare over link to strokes

Hormone replacement therapy was at the centre of a new scare today amid mounting evidence of a link with strokes.

The latest major American study of oestrogen-only HRT has been halted a year early, after the government decided it was too dangerous to continue.

Health chiefs said the treatment - taken by hundreds of thousands of British women - significantly increases the risk of strokes and could be linked to dementia in over-65s.

The 11,000 women involved in the US study have been told to stop taking the pills. However, the study also suggested that the oestrogen-only treatment did not increase the risk of breast cancer, as support groups warned that the new findings would add to confusion surrounding HRT.

Last year the Million Women study funded by Cancer Research UK warned the combined progestogenoestrogen treatment increased the risk of breast cancer, heart attacks and strokes. The new US research has found the oestrogen-only treatment is safer overall, but carries the same risk of stroke.

Doctors had hoped that oestrogenonly treatments, used by women who have had hysterectomies, would be significantly safer.

The US scientists monitored healthy women aged from 50 to 79 over nearly seven years. The results showed that for every 10,000 women, those taking either form of HRT suffer eight more strokes per year than non-users of the therapy.

Initial findings from a related US study suggest women aged 65 and older taking oestrogen alone are more likely to suffer some degree of dementia than those taking a placebo. Around 60,000 women have hysterectomies every year in Britain. Most are prescribed oestrogen-only HRT afterwards, to counter the unpleasant effects of the menopause. Doctors may now be forced to consider alternative treatments.

Robin Parsons of menopause support charity, the Amarant Trust, said: "This is a very confusing time for women facing the menopause. Many GPs are taking them off HRT very abruptly because of the various health scares, and that can cause a lot of suffering."

The trust said women should still take HRT, but for a maximum five years. Both types decrease the risk of a hip fracture from osteoporosis, and are highly effective for menopauserelated symptoms such as hot flushes. Many doctors now advise low-dose use, for a limited time.