|
A study finds that Progestin may be at fault.
Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) has now been linked with hearing loss, adding to the already long list of known adverse side effects including heart attack, stroke, breast cancer, and dementia.
Estrogen is widely used alone and in combination with Progestin to relieve some of the common menopause symptoms but is now believed to cause or accelerate hearing loss. Hearing loss can adversely effect quality of life and is among the most common medical conditions afflicting the elderly.
"When a woman goes to her doctor to decide whether she wants to take HRT, this should really be another negative on that list," said Robert D. Frisina, associate chair of otolaryngology at the University of Rochester Medical School. "If the woman had some hearing loss to begin with, she might want to be more careful," he said.
The study, headed by Robert D. Frisina, confirms previous preliminary findings. The researchers found that those taking Progestin with estrogen suffered more hearing loss than those taking estrogen alone and those not taking any hormones.
The study looked at 124 healthy, postmenopausal women between sixty and eighty-six years old, dividing them into three groups: those taking progestin plus estrogen, those taking estrogen only, and those not taking any hormones. All participants underwent multiple hearing tests.
The women who were taking both progestin and estrogen displayed worse speech perception than those in the other two groups both with and without background noise. Progestin may be at fault, the researchers concluded.
"Generally, estrogen is beneficial to nerve cells but it looks like that, for hearing, the negative effects of progestin outweigh the positive effects that might occur with estrogen," Frisina said. "This data could be important for certain people and should be taken into consideration when making a decision.”
The findings of the study are published in the current issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Injured by hormone replacement therapy? Please contact us today for a FREE consultation with one of our caring and experienced personal injury lawyers.
|
