How people get it: By prescription, as pills, patches, gels or rings.
The basics
What it is
Menopause is the time when a woman's periods stop, and it is a normal part of aging.
How it's thought to work
During menopause the body makes much lower amounts of estrogen and progesterone.
What people use it for
Estrogen is also used to prevent thinning of the bones (osteoporosis) in menopausal women. Progestin is added to estrogen to reduce the risk of uterine cancer in women who still have their uterus.
What the research has found so far
On Menopause hormone therapy and aging, PubMed lists 1,437 trials in people, 2,887 studies that watched people over time, 318 animal and lab studies. See the counts and searches
Stage 3 because a large (phase 3) trial in people for aging or muscles, bones and mobility has been published.
A stage shows how far research has got, not whether it will work for you. How stages work
Side effects and risks
- Common side effects listed include headache, upset stomach, vomiting, stomach cramps or bloating, and diarrhea.
- Other listed side effects include appetite and weight changes, insomnia, emotional changes or depression, and swelling from fluid retention.
- Vaginal bleeding, back or pelvic pain, and breast pain or tenderness are also listed.
- Patches may cause redness or irritation where they are placed.
- Serious side effects listed include crushing chest pain, coughing up blood, and sudden shortness of breath.
- Serious side effects also include breast lumps, nipple discharge, and trouble thinking clearly or remembering.
- A 2- to 4-fold increase in gallbladder disease needing surgery has been reported in women taking estrogens.
Sources: MedlinePlus (NIH): Estrogen and Progestin (Hormone Replacement Therapy): MedlinePlus Drug Information ↗ · MedlinePlus (NIH): Estrogen and Progestin Transdermal Patch (Hormone Replacement Therapy): MedlinePlus Drug Information ↗ · DailyMed (FDA drug label): DailyMed - ESTRADIOL tablet ↗
Who should be careful, and drug interactions
- MedlinePlus says hormone therapy should not be used by people who are pregnant or may be pregnant.
- It also lists unexplained vaginal bleeding, certain cancers, stroke or heart attack, blood clots, and liver disease as reasons not to use it.
- St. John's wort may interact with estrogen and progestin.
- The estradiol label says some drugs, such as St. John's wort, may lower estrogen levels in the blood.
- The label says some drugs and grapefruit juice may raise estrogen levels and may cause side effects.
- Smoking while taking this medicine may raise the risk of serious side effects such as blood clots and stroke.
- MedlinePlus says this medicine may not be recommended in people 65 or older, since other options may be safer or work better.
- People on thyroid hormone replacement may need higher doses of it when also taking estrogens.
- The label says estrogens may worsen asthma, diabetes, epilepsy, migraine, and lupus.
- The label says estrogens should be stopped at least 4 to 6 weeks before surgery linked to higher clot risk, if feasible.
- Estrogen given to nursing mothers has been shown to lower the quantity and quality of milk.
Sources: MedlinePlus (NIH): Hormone Therapy for Menopause ↗ · MedlinePlus (NIH): Estrogen and Progestin (Hormone Replacement Therapy): MedlinePlus Drug Information ↗ · DailyMed (FDA drug label): DailyMed - ESTRADIOL tablet ↗
Approval and legal status
Amounts used in studies
What studies or labels describe, not a recommendation.
- Hormone therapy comes in several forms, most often pills, but also patches, gels, sprays, vaginal creams, tablets, or rings.
- The estradiol label lists tablets of 0.5, 1, or 2 mg.
- The estradiol label says treatment usually starts at 1 to 2 mg daily for menopause symptoms.
- Patches are usually applied once or twice weekly, depending on the product.
Sources: MedlinePlus (NIH): Hormone Therapy for Menopause ↗ · DailyMed (FDA drug label): DailyMed - ESTRADIOL tablet ↗ · MedlinePlus (NIH): Estrogen and Progestin Transdermal Patch (Hormone Replacement Therapy): MedlinePlus Drug Information ↗
Roughly what it costs
We don't have prices for this yet.
Questions to ask your doctor
- Is Menopause hormone therapy a sensible option for me, given my health and the medicines I take?
- Could Menopause hormone therapy interact with any medicine or supplement I already take?
- What side effects should I watch for, and when should I stop or call you?
- Would Menopause hormone therapy be used for its approved purpose, or off-label for aging?
- How would we tell whether it is helping, and when should we review it?
This is general information gathered from the sources listed, not medical advice. Talk to your doctor before starting anything new.
What experts say
No expert views collected yet. Each one we add names the person and links to where they said it.
What others are writing
Recent articles about Menopause hormone therapy from health journalists, hospitals and universities. We link to them; we don't write or endorse them.
Hormone replacement therapy will no longer carry a warning label, FDA says ↗
“The FDA said Monday that it is adding a recommendation to the label of systemic hormone therapies — forms like pills and patches that typically contain more hormones — to start the treatment in women younger than age 60 or within 10 years of the onset of menopause”
The FDA is removing the black box warning from hormone therapy labels and recommending it for women under 60 or within 10 years of menopause onset.
HRT: ‘Black box’ safety warning to be removed from hormone therapy for menopause ↗
“Women’s health experts praised the move to update the boxed warning to reflect newer scientific evidence around menopausal hormone therapy but said individualized discussions of risks and benefits will still be needed.”
The FDA plans to remove the black box warning on menopause hormone therapy, with labels updated to reflect newer evidence.
FDA removes menopause hormone therapy black box warnings ↗
“Although menopause hormone therapy is often called hormone replacement therapy, hormone therapy is now the preferred term, since it replaces only a tiny fraction of the hormones women's ovaries produce before menopause.”
The FDA will remove black box warnings from estrogen-containing hormone therapy products, with labels rewritten to give age-specific guidance.
Recent research
New studies that mention Menopause hormone therapy appear here after the morning update.
Trials
None of the registered trials of Menopause hormone therapy is one we have linked as aging-related yet.
ClinicalTrials.gov lists 424 registered trials that mention Menopause hormone therapy, for any condition (the count in The science below). Here we show the ones about aging. See them all ↗
The science
Counted from PubMed and ClinicalTrials.gov on Oct 17, 2026, using one search for Menopause hormone therapy in relation to aging. Each link opens the exact search.
- Randomized trials in people
- 1,102 search ↗
- Large trials (multicenter or phase 3)
- 181 search ↗
- Phase 3 trials
- 16 search ↗
- Trials in people
- 1,437 search ↗
- Studies that watched people over time
- 2,887 search ↗
- Animal and lab studies
- 318 search ↗
- Registered trials
- 424 search ↗
PubMed search used
("menopausal hormone therapy"[tiab] OR "hormone replacement therapy"[tiab] OR "menopause hormone therapy"[tiab]) AND (menopaus*[tiab] OR postmenopaus*[tiab])
Counts are search results, so they include some records that only mention Menopause hormone therapy. How we count
Cite or share this page
Longevity Verdict. (n.d.). Menopause hormone therapy: Research stage and evidence. Retrieved October 17, 2026, from https://longevityverdict.com/treatments/menopause-hormone-therapy
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The badge shows this treatment's current research stage and links back here. It updates by itself when the stage changes.