A new study found that women who take the skin patch version of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) could have a lower risk of blood clots than those who take the therapy in oral pill form.
Dr. Pierre-Yves Scarabin, director of research at the National Institute of Health and Medical Research in France and his colleagues reviewed data from nine randomized controlled trials and eight observational studies on venous 
thromboembolismous (VTE) and hormone replacement therapy. Their research found that women taking oral doses of estrogen had a VTE risk 2.5 times higher than women not taking estrogen. When compared to women using the patch version of the therapy is was found that the risk increased only slightly. Women who stopped treatments were found to have risk levels that had returned to normal.
The authors warned that most of the data came from observational studies and thus findings should be interpreted with caution. "It's observational and very interesting, but clearly more studies need to be done," said Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, director of women and heart disease at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. "Maybe this opens the door for a way to give hormones more safely to those who need it."
[Source: MedlinePlus]
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