Background: Current indications for hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for menopausal women include symptom relief, but recent studies have raised concerns about the safety of HRT. Little data are available on the effect of HRT on functional status of women taking hormonal preparations after menopause.
Objective: To assess the association between hormonal replacement therapy and functional status in menopausal women.
Methods: A cross-sectional survey, population-based study of 682 menopausal women between the ages of 50 and 70 years registered with six family physicians in central Israel. The main outcome measure was the functional status measured by the WONCA/COOP charts.
Results: A total of 587 women (86%) completed questionnaires. Univariate analysis showed an association between current use of HRT and improved functional status. However this association was diminished in a regression analysis which controlled for sociodemographic status and health variables. The contribution of HRT to functional status was small but was found to be significant in the domains of general health status (1.9%, p<0.002), sleep (0.9%, p<0.044), physical activities (2.1%, p<0.001) and feelings (1.0%, p<0.033). The contribution of HRT to daily activities, social activities, change in health status and pain was not significant.
Conclusions: HRT use had a small contribution to improved functional status in half of the domains measured by the WONCA/COOP charts.