Hormone therapy for postmenopausal women at high genetic risk of bone fracture

A great reliever has been found for the women suffering from post menopause. US researchers have found hormone therapy for postmenopausal women, who are at highest genetic risk of bone fracture.

For the study, about 10, 000 participants were included from the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI), a national, long-term study of more than 1,50,000 women.

More than 1,61,000 generally healthy postmenopausal women, aged 50 to 79, were included.

We found that women who are genetically at the highest fracture risk can enjoy the greatest protection from fracture when they use hormone therapy,” said lead researcher Heather Ochs-Balcom at the University at Buffalo.

According to Ochs-Balcom, “This study provides a better understanding of who can benefit the most in terms of bone health from hormone therapy use,” plus the results have implications of personalized medicine.

Gene-hormone therapy interaction on fracture in postmenopausal white women was investigated and largest set of known genes that were linked to the risk of fracture from a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies were taken in use by the researchers.

his is important because, as previous WHI studies have identified, there are risks and benefits with hormone therapy,” Ochs-Balcom said.

his is where precision or personalised medicine comes in — the attempt to get the right drugs to the right person to ensure the most benefit and least harm,” he explained.

During menopause, women go through a lot of changes in their body. At this age in women, their Bone Mineral Density (BMD) decreases, which leaves them at great risk of breaking bones from falling. This increases as some women are genetically more prone to fractures as they age.

ur study represents a first look at how inherited predisposition to fracture is related to hormone therapy use,” said Ochs-Balcom.

he research team is currently analyzing other gene-environment interactions and recently published another paper on the association of calcium plus vitamin D supplementation and genetic risk of fracture,” they concluded.