Hormone replacement therapy linked to hearing loss
Older women taking hormone replacement therapy (HRT) that included Progestin have a decreased ability to understand speech, according to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
A University of Rochester Medical Center team studied 124 post-menopausal women. Researchers found that women taking HRT have inner-ear and brain-functioning problems that caused poorer speech understanding, compared with women taking estrogen or who were not undergoing HRT.
“We feel this should be added to the list of possible side effects, so when a woman and her doctor make their decision she can weigh this,” says Dr. Robert Frisina, who led the study. “I tell women to have their hearing tested if they are going to start [HRT].”
HRT that combines estrogen with progestin has already been linked to significantly increased rates of heart disease, breast cancer and stroke.