A study published online in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism examines the use of menopausal hormone therapy (HT) and genetic links to fracture risk in postmenopausal women. 

The research team reviewed data on 9,922 genotyped white postmenopausal women, aged 50 to 79 years, who participated in the Women’s Health Initiative HT randomized trials. The investigators developed two weighted genetic risk scores (GRSs): one based on 16 fracture-associated variants and another based on 50 bone mineral density (BMD) variants. The researchers note that both GRSs were associated with increased fracture risk. They also observed a significant additive interaction, in which the highest quartile of both GRSs and randomization to placebo were associated with excess fracture risk. "These results suggest that HT reduces fracture risk in postmenopausal women," they write, "especially in those at highest genetic risk of fracture and low BMD." Learn more...