Pain Killers May Kill Benefits of HRT s

Certain non-steroidal anti-inflammatory painkillers have been found to reduce the effectiveness that a woman"s heart receives from hormone replacement therapy.

The studies author however, encourages women to stay on their regular medication regime until findings are more confirmed.

The senior author Dr. Garret A. FitzGerald, a professor of medicine and pharmacology at the University of Pennsylvania Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics said, "This isn't a message that women who happen to be taking hormone replacement therapy and NSAIDs [nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs] are headed for disaster. This shouldn't be a basis for clinical judgment but a stimulus for people to actually do research and address the question more comprehensively."

The study which touches on two very controversial topics, is to be published in this weeks journal of PLoS Medicine. Fitzgerald stated, "The whole issue of whether there is a protective effect has been World War III," FitzGerald said. "But a recent paper suggested that what really matters is when you start taking HRT."

According to HealthDay, "Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) had long been thought to prevent heart disease in postmenopausal women. The results of the landmark Women's Health Initiative (WHI) study, however, seemed to prove that not to be the case.
However, a more recent sub-analysis of data from the WHI found that hormone replacement therapy may help protect the hearts of women who start taking the hormones closer to the time menopause starts."

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