USPSTF Hormone Therapy Recommendations Finalized

The US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) does not recommend the use of hormone therapy for preventing chronic conditions in postmenopausal women.

In order to update their 2012 recommendations, the USPSTF reviewed evidence on the benefits and harms of systemic hormone therapy for the prevention of chronic conditions, such as coronary artery disease, among postmenopausal women. The reviewers did not assesse the use of hormone therapy for preventing or treating menopausal symptoms.
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Overall, the reviewers found that the benefits and harms for the use of hormone therapy were small to moderate.

“Therefore, the USPSTF concluded with moderate certainty that combined estrogen and progestin has no net benefit for the primary prevention of chronic conditions for most postmenopausal women with an intact uterus and that estrogen alone has no net benefit for the primary prevention of chronic conditions for most postmenopausal women who have had a hysterectomy,” the reviewers concluded.

—Melissa Weiss

Reference:

US Preventive Services Task Force. Hormone therapy for the primary prevention of chronic conditions in postmenopausal women: US Preventive Services Task Force Recommendation Statement [published online December 12, 2017]. JAMA. doi:10.1001/jama.2017.18261.