Combined hormone replacement therapy started late in menopause improves quality of life

Amanda Welton and colleagues, in a study published in The British Medical Journal, looked at 3721 women aged between 50 and 69. They randomised the women to either combined HRT or placebo and measured health related quality of life and psychological wellbeing using a women's health questionnaire.

After a year there were small, but significant improvements in vasomotor symptoms, sexual functioning and sleep problems among the women taking combined HRT. Significantly fewer women in the combined HRT arm of the trial reported hot flushes, night sweats, aching joints and muscles, vaginal dryness and insomnia.