Hormone replacement therapy could be used as a treatment to improve the success of hip and knee operations for women, researchers say today.
A study found that women who took the treatment for six months after having a hip or knee replacement operation enjoyed a 40% reduction in the risk of it failing.
On average about 2% of these procedures have to be repeated within three years in England and Wales.
The findings come from a study of GP records, which identified women who were taking hormone treatments after surgery.
Researchers compared the fate of some 2,700 women using the treatment with another 8,100 women not using it over a 20 year period.
During that time the use of HRT among women dropped dramatically as evidence of side-effects emerged.
The research at Oxford University, UK, was reported in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.
The researchers, led by Professor Nigel Arden, say: "Low levels of the female hormone oestrogen have been implicated in bone thinning and loss, while HRT is thought to help conserve bone thickness.
"But this is the first study to show that it can help prevent repeat surgery in women who have undergone hip/knee replacement."
Hormone replacement therapy and mid-term implant survival following
knee or hip arthroplasty for osteoarthritis: a population based cohort study Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases 23 January 2014; doi 10.1136/annrheumdis-2013-204043 [abstract]
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