In postmenopausal women, taking both statins and hormone therapy may play a role in reducing the risk of blood clots.
- In postmenopausal women, the risk of venous thrombosis is 53% higher when exposed to hormonal treatment.
- On the other hand, it decreases by 18% in patients following hormone therapy and taking statins.
- However, the combination of statins and hormonal treatment does not eliminate the risk.
Hot flashes, sleep problems, urinary leakage, cognitive changes… Menopause causes problematic symptoms, which can have an impact on women’s quality of life. To relieve them, hormone therapy is often used. However, this treatment has a drawback. Previous research has shown that it increases the risk of suffering from venous thrombosis, which is a blood clot forming in a vein. Other cohorts indicated that statins, the standard drugs to treat excess cholesterol, were associated with a reduced risk of phlebitis. Problem: statins have positive but also negative effects on health.
Venous thrombosis: 223,949 postmenopausal women were followed
In a new study, scientists from the University of Texas at Galveston (United States) wanted to know if statins were linked to a reduced risk of venous thrombosis in women taking hormone therapy. Thus, they recruited 223,949 patients aged 50 to 64 years. For the purposes of the work, prescriptions for estrogens, progestins and statins were recorded during the 12 months preceding registration. “Hormone therapy was defined as any exposure to estrogen or progestin within 60 days before the date of enrollment. Statin exposure was defined as 90 days or more of continuous exposure before the date of enrollment. ‘registration”, the team said.
Risk of blood clots decreased by 18% in patients taking statins and hormone therapy
Of the entire sample, 19,558 people took hormone therapy and 36,238 adults took statins. The results, published in the journal JAMA Network Open, found that exposure to hormone therapy without statins increased the risk of blood clots by 53%. In contrast, when hormone therapy was combined with statins, the risk of venous thrombosis was reduced by 18%. In the study’s conclusions, the authors note that although statins were associated with a reduction in the risk of venous thrombosis associated with exogenous hormones, this treatment did not eliminate the risk. “Further research is needed,” they added.