Observational Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Obstet Gynecol. Feb 10, 2016; 5(1): 127-133
Published online Feb 10, 2016. doi: 10.5317/wjog.v5.i1.127
Variation in use of menopausal hormone treatment on risk of health outcomes
Soo-Keat Khoo, Lee Tripcony
Soo-Keat Khoo, School of Medicine, University of Queensland and Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, Brisbane, Queensland 4029, Australia
Lee Tripcony, Oncology Services, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, Brisbane, Queensland 4029, Australia
Author contributions: Khoo SK contributed to the concept and design of the study, assisted in patient supervision and wrote the manuscript; Tripcony L provided management of the data base and statistical analysis, and assisted in writing the manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of the Royal Women’s Hospital and subsequently by the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital (ref RWH 99/17) (see attached).
Informed consent statement: All study participants were given information about the study and provided informed written consent before recruitment and enrolment. All data were de-identified.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Both authors declare no conflict of interest in the findings of the study.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Soo-Keat Khoo, MD, Professor, FRANZCOG, School of Medicine, University of Queensland, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, Level 6 Ned Hanlon Building, Brisbane, Queensland 4029, Australia. hoo@uq.edu.au
Telephone: +61-7-33655205 Fax: +61-7-33655211
Received: July 1, 2015
Peer-review started: July 8, 2015
First decision: September 18, 2015
Revised: October 12, 2015
Accepted: November 23, 2015
Article in press: November 25, 2015
Published online: February 10, 2016
Processing time: 214 Days and 1.7 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: In contrast to larger studies, this small observational study examined effects of various ways of use of menopausal hormone treatment (MHT) when given for clinical indications. Of the four selected outcomes available at 14 years follow-up, overall risk was only increased for peripheral artery disease but not for coronary artery disease, stroke and breast cancer. However, risk was increased for coronary artery disease and peripheral disease when MHT was started more than three years after menopause in women over 60 years.