Women taking HT had a significantly decreased incidence of fracture with long-term use .
Research ers found no strong evidence that HT has a clinical ly meaningful impact on the incidence of colorectal cancer .
AUTHORS ' CONCLUSIONS : Women with intolerable menopausal symptoms may wish to weigh the benefits of symptom relief against the small absolute risk of harm arising from short-term use of low-dose HT , provided they do not have specific contraindications .
HT may be unsuitable for some women , including those at increased risk of cardiovascular disease , increased risk of thromboembolic disease ( such as those with obesity or a history of venous thrombosis ) or increased risk of some types of cancer ( such as breast cancer , in women with a uterus ) .
The risk of endometrial cancer among women with a uterus taking oestrogen-only HT is well documented .
HT is not indicated for primary or secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease or dementia , nor for prevention of deterioration of cognitive function in postmenopausal women .
Although HT is considered effective for the prevention of postmenopausal osteoporosis , it is generally recommended as an option only for women at significant risk for whom non-oestrogen therapies are unsuitable .
BACKGROUND : Hormone therapy ( HT ) is widely provided for control of menopausal symptoms and has been used for the management and prevention of cardiovascular disease , osteoporosis and  dementia in older women .
This is an up date d version of a Cochrane review first published in 2005 .
OBJECTIVES : To assess effects of long-term HT ( at least 1 year 's duration ) on mortality , cardiovascular outcomes , cancer , gallbladder disease , fracture and cognition in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women during and after cessation of treatment .
Long-term effects of conjugated equine estrogen therapies on domain-specific cognitive function: results from the Women's Health Initiative study of cognitive aging extension.
OBJECTIVES To determine whether small decrements in global cognitive function that conjugated equine estrogen ( CEE ) therapies have been shown to produce in older women persist after cessation and extend to specific cognitive domains . DESIGN R and omized controlled clinical trial . SETTING Fourteen clinical centers of the Women 's Health Initiative . PARTICIPANTS Two thous and three hundred four women aged 65 to 80 free of probable dementia at enrollment . INTERVENTION CEE 0.625 mg/d with or without medroxyprogesterone acetate ( MPA , 10 mg/d ) and matching placebos . MEASUREMENTS Annual administrations of a battery of cognitive tests during and after the trial . RESULTS Assignment to CEE-based therapies was associated with small mean relative decrements in global cognitive function and several domain-specific cognitive functions during the trial , which largely persisted through up to 4 years after the trial . The strongest statistical evidence was for global cognitive function ( 0.07-st and ard deviation decrements during ( P=.007 ) and after ( P=.01 ) the trial . For domain-specific scores , the mean decrements were slightly smaller , were less significant , and tended to be larger for CEE-alone therapy . CONCLUSION CEE-based therapies , when initiated after the age of 65 , produce a small broad-based decrement in cognitive function that persists after their use is stopped , but the differences in cognitive function are small and would not be detectable or have clinical significance for an individual woman . Differences in effects between cognitive domains suggest that more than one mechanism may be involved
Women taking HT had a significantly decreased incidence of fracture with long-term use .
Research ers found no strong evidence that HT has a clinical ly meaningful impact on the incidence of colorectal cancer .
AUTHORS ' CONCLUSIONS : Women with intolerable menopausal symptoms may wish to weigh the benefits of symptom relief against the small absolute risk of harm arising from short-term use of low-dose HT , provided they do not have specific contraindications .
HT may be unsuitable for some women , including those at increased risk of cardiovascular disease , increased risk of thromboembolic disease ( such as those with obesity or a history of venous thrombosis ) or increased risk of some types of cancer ( such as breast cancer , in women with a uterus ) .
The risk of endometrial cancer among women with a uterus taking oestrogen-only HT is well documented .
HT is not indicated for primary or secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease or dementia , nor for prevention of deterioration of cognitive function in postmenopausal women .
Although HT is considered effective for the prevention of postmenopausal osteoporosis , it is generally recommended as an option only for women at significant risk for whom non-oestrogen therapies are unsuitable .
BACKGROUND : Hormone therapy ( HT ) is widely provided for control of menopausal symptoms and has been used for the management and prevention of cardiovascular disease , osteoporosis and  dementia in older women .
This is an up date d version of a Cochrane review first published in 2005 .
OBJECTIVES : To assess effects of long-term HT ( at least 1 year 's duration ) on mortality , cardiovascular outcomes , cancer , gallbladder disease , fracture and cognition in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women during and after cessation of treatment .