Study Links HRT to Ulcerative Colitis in Postmenopausal Women

A new study shows that women who take postmenopausal hormone replacement therapy (HRT) may face an increased risk of developing ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory bowel disease.

Researchers at the Harvard Medical School used data from the Nurses’ Health Study for 22,044 women who were postmenopausal and a further 86,800 who became postmenopausal during the course of the study, according to MedWire.

They found that those women who currently used hormones had a 71 percent increased risk of developing ulcerative colitis and those who had previously taken hormones had a 65 percent increased risk.

The researchers also found that the risk seemed to increase with the length of time HRT was used. Women who had used the hormone therapy for up to five years had a 61 percent increased risk of ulcerative colitis and those who had taken HRT for over 10 years were at 80 percent higher risk.

There was no association detected between HRT use and Crohn’s Disease.

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