Could Hormone Therapy Increase the Risk of Acute Pancreatitis?

A recent study shows a distinct connection between hormone replacement therapy and an increased risk of acute pancreatitis. This sudden inflammation of the pancreas can vary from mild to debilitating pain, with some more serious conditions even resulting in death.

For the study, researchers used data from 31,494 Swedish postmenopausal women aged 48 at the beginning of the 13-year study from 1997 to 2010. They found that 42 percent of the women used HRT at the beginning of the study, 12 percent were previous users and 46 percent never used HRT. For those that participated in the therapy, approximately 52 percent used systemic therapy for hot flashes while 32 percent used local therapy for vaginal dryness. Sixteen percent used both therapies, according to background information from the study.

Researchers found that women who used or had used HRT had a 1.5 increased risk for acute pancreatitis than those who had never used the therapy. This risk was much higher among those who used systemic therapy or those who had used HRT for more than a decade.

"There are no contemporary data that might explain our finding that the risk was sustained among past users of [HRT] or that the risk seemed to increase with duration of use," researcher Dr. Viktor Oskarsson, Unit of Nutritional Epidemiology, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet said, via a press release. "These findings, though speculative, may suggest that exogenous estrogen induces some persistent change in the pancreas for which the duration of exposure may be important."

More information regarding the study can be found via the Canadian Medical Association Journal.