Keywords
Hormone replacement therapy
Menopause
Review
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Abstract
Objective: To assess the risks and benefits of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) during menopause. Methods: This is an integrative literature review, whose guiding question was: “What are the risks and benefits of using HRT in menopausal patients?” To answer this question, searches were conducted on the Pubmed, Lilacs and Scielo platforms, with the descriptors corresponding to “Hormone Replacement Therapy” and “Menopause”. Articles from the last 5 years available in full without language restrictions and relevant to the topic were included. Results: Twenty-two studies were selected for analysis of the risks and benefits of HRT. Conclusion: HRT showed benefits for cardiovascular health, reduction of LDL, bone mineral density and inflammatory markers, improvements in vasomotor and genitourinary symptoms, cognition and sleep, pelvic floor muscles and sexual hypoactivity in menopausal women. Harmful effects on the risk of CAD, dementia, CNS tumors and changes in coagulation function were identified, a duality that can be explained by the HRT regimen instituted, as well as by the time of initiation of HRT. Regarding breast cancer, the risks and benefits could not be fully elucidated, since the HRT modality used seems to influence the outcomes.
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