Hormone replacement therapy reduces morbidity in women with Turner Syndrome

Overall morbidity and mortality are greater in women with Turner Syndrome (TS), but use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) may confer benefits to those with 45,X karyotype, particularly on stroke, hypertension and endocrine conditions, suggests a study. However, HRT shows no clear effect on mortality.

Compared with matched controls, women with TS had significantly greater endocrine and cardiovascular mortality and morbidity. Although the risk of mortality was comparable between HRT-treated and nontreated 45,X women, those who received HRT had a significantly reduced use of antihypertensives, antidiabetics and thyroid hormones, as well as significantly lower hospitalization rates for stroke and osteoporotic fractures.

This national cohort study, which followed all TS individuals ever diagnosed in Denmark through 2014, assessed mortality, morbidity and medicinal use in TS and the impact of HRT in 45,X women.

The authors identified 1,156 women diagnosed with TF from 1960 to 2014 from the Danish Cytogenetic Central Registry. Subsequently, Statistics Denmark randomly identified 115,577 age-matched female controls. TS women and controls were linked with person-level data from the National Patient Registry and the Medication Statistics Registry, and were compared in terms of mortality, hospitalizations and medical prescriptions.

Forty-four of the 329 women with 45,X karyotype had never been treated, while the rest had been treated at some point. Those treated were then compared with untreated women regarding their mortality hospitalizations and medical prescriptions.