Combination HRT shows slower ageing of cells in new study

Researchers from Austria analysed cells from the cervix and the cheek and measured the effects of estrogen and progesterone therapy on the rate of aging of the cells. Their findings reveal a slower rate of cell aging in the women who took combination HRT.

The study, published in Genome Biology, can be read in full here and the authors concluded that there are many genetic ‘clocks’ specific to different tissue types and this information can help provide a measurement of risk of disease for an individual in the future.

Combination HRT was shown to reduce healthy women’s individual risk of developing disease in the future. Chair of the Newson Health Menopause Society, Dr Louise Newson, said:

“These are age-related diseases related to inflammation in the body. This important study has shown that HRT can have anti-ageing effects which is likely to be a mechanism to why women taking HRT have a lower risk of these diseases.”