Hormone Therapy can Put Transgenders at Risk of Heart Disease: Study

Hormone therapy may increase the risk of heart disease in transgender individuals, finds a new study.

Heart Disease Risk Higher in Transgender Individuals finds a new study. This increased risk may be due to the hormone therapy that transgender people have to take for masculinization or feminization.

The findings of this study are published in the Reviews in Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders journal.

Hormone Therapy may Improve Thinking for Postmenopausal Women
Hormone therapy, transdermal estradiol in combination with an oral progesterone, may slow cognitive decline among postmenopausal women and lead to improved cognitive function.

‘Transgender women appear to have increased risk for cardiovascular events due to hormone therapy’

A review authored by Michael S. Irwig, MD, associate professor of medicine at the George Washington University (GW) School of Medicine and Health Sciences and director of the Andrology Center at the GW Medical Faculty Associates, examined several studies that followed transgender individuals on hormone therapy.

"Many transgender patients take either testosterone or estrogen for masculinization or feminization," explained Irwig. "Some studies have suggested that transgender people have an increased risk for heart attack and death due to cardiovascular disease."

The review focuses on cardiovascular events (myocardial infarction, stroke and venous thromboembolism) and surrogate markers -- including blood pressure and lipid concentrations -- in transgender patients on hormone therapy who may or may not have undergone gender affirmation procedures. The studies that the review covers show that transgender women appear to have increased risk for cardiovascular events due to hormone therapy whereas the data is unclear for transgender men. It is well known that estrogen therapy for trans women increases their risk of blood clots (deep venous thromboses).

Hormone Therapy Benefits Postmenopausal Women
Menopause is one of the most significant events in a woman's life and brings in a number of physiological changes that affect the life of a woman permanently.

"In clinical studies that followed transgender patients, rates for myocardial infarction were consistently higher in transgender women on estrogen therapy than in transgender men on testosterone," Irwig said. "The relationship between endogenous sex hormones and heart disease is complex. In cisgender women, estrogen may have a protective effect."

Given that hormone therapy is often essential in the management of transgender patients, Irwig suggests that more research is needed on the effects and risk of hormone therapy in older transgender populations and on the safest forms of estrogen therapy.

Simple Ways to Fight Side Effects of Hormone Therapy for Prostate Cancer
A new study has proved that diet and moderate exercise can overcome prostate cancer patients lose strength and muscle mass and fat deposition.

Source-Medindia

Women Do Not Require Hormone Therapy to Prevent Chronic Conditions
Postmenopausal women do not require hormone therapy to prevent their chronic medical conditions such as coronary heart disease, dementia, stroke, fractures and breast cancer.