HRT offers 'enormous benefits to women' and should be the first line of treatment for menopause symptoms, say experts By Kate Pickles For The Daily Mail Published: 23:56, 6 November 2024 | Updated: 00:41, 7 November 2024 e-mail View comments Hormone replacement therapy offers ‘enormous benefits to women’ and should be the first line of treatment for menopause symptoms, says a health watchdog today. Bosses at the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) say ‘HRT is the preferred, recommended approach’ for easing symptoms such as hot flushes, insomnia and poor mood. Taking the medication is ‘unlikely to change life expectancy’ and should be offered to women following personalised discussions with their GP, the Nice bosses say in guidelines published today.
But in an apparent move away from draft guidelines published last year, it said cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) should only be considered in addition to HRT, unless women are unable to, or do not want to take, the medication. The draft guidelines last year said CBT could be used ‘alongside or as an alternative to’ HRT to help reduce their menopause symptoms. But this proposal was heavily criticised.
The change follows extensive consultation with healthcare providers, patients and research organisations, which its independent committee said it had taken ‘very seriously’. Hormone replacement therapy offers ‘enormous benefits to women’ and should be the first line of treatment for meno.
