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 .
Prior hormone therapy and breast cancer risk in the Women's Health Initiative randomized trial of estrogen plus progestin.
OBJECTIVES To assess the extent to which prior hormone therapy modifies the breast cancer risk found with estrogen plus progestin ( E+P ) in the Women 's Health Initiative ( WHI ) r and omized trial . METHODS Subgroup analyses of prior hormone use on  invasive breast cancer incidence in 16,608 postmenopausal women in the WHI r and omized trial of E+P over an average 5.6 years of follow-up . RESULTS Small but statistically significant differences were found between prior HT users and non-users for most breast cancer risk factors but Gail risk scores were similar . Duration of E+P use within the trial ( mean 4.4 years , S.D. 2.0 ) did not vary by prior use . Among 4311 prior users , the adjusted hazard ratio ( HR ) for E+P versus placebo was 1.96 ( 95 % confidence interval [ CI ] : 1.17 - 3.27 ) , significantly different ( p=0.03 ) from that among 12,297 never users ( HR 1.02 ; 95 % CI : 0.77 - 1.36 ) . The interaction between study arm and follow-up time was significant overall ( p=0.01 ) and among never users ( p=0.02 ) but not among prior users ( p=0.10 ) . The cumulative incidence over time for the E+P and placebo groups appeared to cross after about 3 years in prior users , and after about 5 years in women with no prior use . No interaction was found with duration ( p=0.08 ) or recency of prior use ( p=0.17 ) . Prior hormone use significantly increased the E+P hazard ratio for larger , more advanced tumors . CONCLUSION A safe interval for combined hormone use could not be reliably defined with these data . However , the significant increase in breast cancer risk in the trial overall after only 5.6 years of follow-up , initially concentrated in women with prior hormone exposure , but with increasing risk over time in women without prior exposure , suggests that duration s only slightly longer than those in the WHI trial are associated with increased risk of breast cancer . Longer-term exposure and follow-up data are needed
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 .