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 .
Effectiveness of enhanced communication therapy in the first four months after stroke for aphasia and dysarthria: a randomised controlled trial
Objective To assess the effectiveness of enhanced communication therapy in the first four months after stroke compared with an attention control ( unstructured social contact ) . Design Externally r and omised , pragmatic , parallel , superiority trial with blinded outcome assessment . Setting Twelve UK hospital and community stroke services . Participants 170 adults ( mean age 70 years ) r and omised within two weeks of admission to hospital with stroke ( December 2006 to January 2010 ) whom speech and language therapists deemed eligible , and 135 carers . Interventions Enhanced , agreed best practice , communication therapy specific to aphasia or dysarthria , offered by speech and language therapists according to participants ’ needs for up to four months , with continuity from hospital to community . Comparison was with similarly re source d social contact ( without communication therapy ) from employed visitors . Outcome measures Primary outcome was blinded , functional communicative ability at six months on the Therapy Outcome Measure ( TOM ) activity subscale . Secondary outcomes ( unblinded , six months ) : participants ’ perceptions on the Communication Outcomes After Stroke scale ( COAST ) ; carers ’ perceptions of participants from part of the Carer COAST ; carers ’ wellbeing on Carers of Older People in Europe Index and quality of life items from Carer COAST ; and serious adverse events . Results Therapist and visitor contact both had good uptake from service users . An average 22 contacts ( intervention or control ) over 13 weeks were accepted by users . Impairment focused therapy was the approach most often used by the speech and language therapists . Visitors most often provided general conversation . In total , 81/85 of the intervention group and 72/85 of the control group completed the primary outcome measure . Both groups improved on the TOM activity subscale . The estimated six months group difference was not statistically significant , with 0.25 ( 95 % CI –0.19 to 0.69 ) points in favour of therapy . Sensitivity analyses that adjusted for chance baseline imbalance further reduced this difference . Per protocol analyses rejected a possible dilution of treatment effect from controls declining their allocation and receiving usual care . There was no added benefit of therapy on secondary outcome measures , subgroup analyses ( such as aphasia ) , or serious adverse events , although the latter were less common after intervention ( odds ratio 0.42 ( 95 % CI 0.16 to 1.1 ) ) . Conclusions Communication therapy had no added benefit beyond that from everyday communication in the first four months after stroke . Future research should evaluate reorganised services that support functional communication practice early in the stroke pathway . This project was funded by the NIHR Health Technology Assessment programme ( project No 02/11/04 ) and is published in full in Health Technology Assessment 2012;16(26):1 - 160 . Trial registration IS RCT
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 .