HRT Risks & Benefits

This web page provides information for women already taking or thinking of taking hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and for health professionals. It explains how the latest research findings about the benefits and risks of HRT apply to Australian women in different age groups, and provides an easy to use risks and benefits calculator.

Media reports can make it difficult to judge the risk of using HRT. In reality, the benefits and risks of using HRT are different for different women depending on other aspects of their health and the kind of HRT they are taking. The information here is relevant only for women taking combination HRT.

The main benefit of HRT is that it greatly reduces the hot flushes and night sweats that many women experience during menopause. HRT is recommended only for women suffering troublesome symptoms of menopause. The latest research findings about risks and benefits of HRT have been reviewed by the Australian Drug Evaluation Committee (ADEC)(Click here for more information). and it now advises women to consider using HRT only to relieve serious hot flushes and for no longer than is necessary. If you are thinking about starting HRT to relieve menopausal symptoms, there is a decision aid that may help you consider the benefits, risks and uncertainties and make the best decision for your particular situation. The aid is specifically for women who are about 50 years old and have troublesome hot flushes.

As well as affecting hot flushes and night sweats, HRT also affects women's risks of some diseases. It increases the risk of some diseases (eg breast cancer, blood clots) and reduces the risk of others (osteoporosis and bowel cancer). For most women the increased risk of some diseases will greatly outweigh the reduced risk of other diseases. So the reduction in risk of diseases like osteoporosis and bowel cancer should not be reasons to start taking HRT. As described by ADEC the main reason for taking HRT is to relieve hot flushes and night sweats that are really troublesome. Nevertheless women many women may want to know about the effect of HRT on their risk of these diseases when deciding about HRT.

To help women understand the effect of HRT on the risk of various diseases, this site has an easy-to-use risks and benefits calculator, developed by the University of Sydney, School of Public Health to show women of different age groups how taking HRT affects your chance of developing, or preventing, some diseases. It shows the risks (of breast cancer, heart disease, stroke and vein thromboses or blood clotting) and benefits (reduced risk of hip fractures and bowel cancer) for Australian women of taking combined HRT for one or five years.

You can also compare the increased risk of breast cancer and heart disease for HRT users with the increase due to other risk factors.

Go to Risks and Benefits

This site also gives answers to frequently asked questions about HRT and the risks and benefits of taking it, and links to other websites for further information.

Go to Questions about HRT