Research
Hormonal
The protective effect of HRT on hip fracture risk diminishes significantly if treatment is stopped for more than five years, regardless of prior duration of use.
If you have stopped taking hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for more than five years, you have likely lost most of the protection it offered against hip fractures, even if you took it for a long time. To maintain bone health, you may need to consider restarting HRT or other bone-protective strategies under medical supervision.
GoodQualifiesHIGH confidence
After five years without hormone replacement therapy the protective effect was substantially diminished (- 7% to 48%).
Why this rating
Based on the same large case-control study with robust data on time since last use.
Source
Hormone replacement therapy and risk of hip fracture: population based case-control study
Karl Michaëlsson et al. · BMJ · 1998
DOI 10.1136/bmj.316.7148.1858
case_control · n=4589Cited 259×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Current use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) with medium potency oestrogens significantly reduces the risk of hip fracture in postmenopausal women, with risk decreasing by 6% per year of use.Good
- Adding progestins to oestrogen therapy enhances the protective effect against hip fractures compared to oestrogen alone, allowing for lower oestrogen doses.Good
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