Postmenopausal vaginal bleeding in women using hormone replacement therapy

Abstract

Objective

To estimate the risk of endometrial cancer in postmenopausal women presenting with vaginal bleeding using estrogen–progestogen hormone replacement therapy (HRT) regimens and to assess if the duration of HRT use has an effect on the risk of diagnosing endometrial cancer.

Study design

Cross-sectional study of consecutive women presenting with postmenopausal vaginal bleeding at a gynaecological oncology centre in the UK.

Main outcome measures

Endometrial cancer diagnosis.

Results

Over a 62-month period, 4847 women were investigated for postmenopausal vaginal bleeding. The majority of women (4097, 84.5%) did not use any HRT preparation at the time of initial referral and 750 (15.5%) women were using combined HRT preparations. A total of 298 (6.1%) women were diagnosed with endometrial carcinoma. Women using HRT preparations were significantly less likely to be diagnosed with endometrial cancer compared with women not using HRT (adjusted odds ratio = 0.229, 95% CI 0.116–0.452; P < 0.0001). The longer duration of HRT use did increase the risk of diagnosing endometrial cancer in women presenting with postmenopausal vaginal bleeding, but this was not statistically significant.

Conclusions

Postmenopausal women presenting with vaginal bleeding and using combined HRT preparations have significantly lower risk of being diagnosed with endometrial cancer when compared with women not using HRT.