NEW YORK, Feb. 20 (UPI) -- A French study finds that some of the most serious side effects of taking hormones for menopause can be cut sharply by ingesting them in non-pill form.
Using patches or other forms of delivery through the skin reduces the risk of blood clots to almost zero, the study found.
The researchers tracked 881 women. They found that those taking estrogen or other hormones as pills were four times as likely to suffer from blood clots, while those getting the hormone through the skin were no more likely than women not on hormones to get blood clots, the Wall Street Journal reported.
In the United States, most women taking estrogen for treatment of menopausal symptoms use pills. The hormone can be prescribed in a gel or cream as well as a patch.
The French study was published in the journal Circulation.
