Hormone replacement therapy: evolution of body mass index, bone mineral density, and lipid profile

One hundred and eighty-five female never-hormone users with a mean age of 50.71 (SD = 5.58) years upon initiation of treatment were studied before instauration and during treatment. The profile of patients subjected to the study included body mass index (BMI), bone mineral density (BMD), and lipid profile (LP). In our population, pretreatment values were within the normal range, which is why a hormone replacement therapy (HRT), conjugated equine estrogen plus medroxyprogesterone acetate, was administered to a healthy population of women for 9.82 ± 5.42 years and follow-up comprised 1815.84 woman-years. To study the effects of treatment on the investigated clinical subjects, we resorted to comparative analyses of pretreatment and posttreatment mean values: descriptive and comparative hypothesis, followed by a repeated measurements design to investigate the evolution on three levels according to age groups just before the initiation of the treatment and on the other three levels during the treatment with a minimum follow-up of 9 years. On the basis of the numerical results, we were able to conclude that BMD decreased significantly (p = 0.00) well above the values found on curves corresponding to these age groups. The total cholesterol decreased significantly at 2-3 years interval (p = 0.04). The rest of the LP factors remained within a safe margin. Therefore, long-term HRT may be considered initially as a beneficial alternative in the treated study population.