Papadakis GE, et al. - Authors evaluated the impact of menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) on fat mass (FM), visceral adipose tissue (VAT), and lean body mass (LBM) before and after its withdrawal and assessed the potential confounders. Findings suggested an association of MHT with significantly decreased VAT, BMI, and android FM. Experts could not detect any benefit for LBM. In past users (PUs), the benefits are not preserved, therefore while discontinuing MHT caution is suggested.

Methods

• Authors conducted a cross-sectional study on general community.
• They included the women of the OsteoLaus cohort (50 to 80 years old) who underwent dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) with body composition assessment.
• They categorized 1053 participants into current users (CUs), past users (PUs), and never users (NUs) of MHT after excluding women with estrogen-modifying medications.
• TheVAT primary outcome was measured by DXA.
• They evaluated subtotal and android FM, LBM, muscle strength (hand grip), and confounding factors (caloric intake, physical activity, biomarkers).

Results

• As per data, the groups significantly differed in age, NU < CU < PU.
• Compared to Nus, the age-adjusted VAT was lower in CUs (P = 0.03).
• Findings suggested that lower age-adjusted body mass index (BMI) (-0.9 kg/m²) a trend for lower FM (-1.3 kg) was exhibited by CUs .
• Results demonstrated that in CUs the 10-year gain of VAT (P < 0.01) and subtotal and android FM (P < 0.05) was prevented.
• Resrarchers could not detect anydifference in LBM or hand grip.
• For Pus including for early MHT discontinuers, no residual effect was detected.
• They noted that between groups the confounding factors did not significantly differ except for higher caloric intake in PUs compared with NUs.