HRT raises risk of kidney stones
October 13th, 2010 - 3:00 pm ICT by IANSLondon, Oct 13 (IANS) Women who undergo hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for menopause are much more likely to develop painful kidney stones.
Researchers from the University of Texas, US, studied 24,000 post-menopausal women over five years. They found that those who took hormones had a 21 percent higher risk of getting kidney stones compared to those who took a dummy pill.
The risks were similar for women taking Prempro, pills containing estrogen plus progestin - or Premarin, estrogen-only pills, the Daily Mail reported.
Recent data suggests that about six percent of postmenopausal women develop kidney stones, according to the journal Archives of Internal Medicine.
The kidneys remove waste products from the blood and transfer them into the ureter. Occasionally, this waste can form into crystals that collect together into stone-like lumps.
They can grow to the size of golf balls and cause severe pain. If the stones block the urinary system, they can cause infection and kidney damage.
Large stones are sometimes treated with non-invasive shock wave therapy or surgery.
Study leader Naim Maalouf said women considering HRT to ease hot flushes and other symptoms such as mood swings should “look at the bigger picture”, weighing those benefits against the risks for kidney stones.
He added that HRT has also been linked with far more serious health problems such as breast cancer and heart attacks.
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- Hormone therapies 'up breast cancer metastasis risk in post-menopausal women' - May 07, 2010
- Hormone replacement therapy 'beneficial for postmenopausal women' - Oct 05, 2009
- Hormone replacement therapy 'increases lung cancer risk' - Mar 04, 2010
- Hormone replacement therapy tied to breast cancer - Dec 30, 2011
- Estrogen alone can cut risk of breast cancer - Dec 10, 2010
- Estrogen helps women pile on pounds - Oct 06, 2011
- Hormone therapy linked to increased breast cancer risk: Study - Aug 11, 2010
- How progesterone and estrogen increase breast cancer risk - Jan 19, 2011
- Postmenopausal hormone therapy 'ups breast cancer risk' - Oct 20, 2010
- Female sex hormone regulates weight - Oct 20, 2011
- Menopausal hormone therapy 'ups ovarian cancer risk' - Nov 10, 2010
- Combination menopausal hormone therapy ups heart disease risk - Feb 17, 2010
- Withdrawing HRT from women cuts breast cancer risk, shows study - Sep 24, 2010
Tags: archives of internal medicine, breast cancer, daily mail, dummy pill, estrogen plus progestin, golf balls, heart attacks, hormone replacement therapy, hot flushes, journal archives, kidney damage, menopausal women, mood swings, painful kidney stones, postmenopausal women, prempro, shock wave therapy, study leader, ureter, urinary system