Hormone replacement appears to reduce mortality in COVID-19

Researchers report that hormone replacement therapy is associated with a reduction in COVID-19 mortality. Their findings appeared on May 22, 2022 in Family Practice.

“This study supports the theory that estrogen may offer some protection against severe COVID-19,” said author D. Christopher Wilcox of the University of Southhampton (UK).

The researchers noted that prior data had suggested a protective effect of estrogen in COVID-19. “Our aim was to investigate the association between hormone replacement therapy (HRT) or combined oral contraceptive pill (COCP) use and the likelihood of death in women with COVID-19,” they said.

The investigators conducted a retrospective study using data from the Oxford-Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) Research and Surveillance Centre (RSC) primary care database, involving 1,863,478 women over 18 years of age from 465 general practices in England.

They used standard statistical tools to analyze the data, to identify and measure any association between HRT or COCP use and mortality within 6 months of treatment among women diagnosed with COVID-19.

They identified 5,451 COVID-19 cases in the study group. They found that HRT was associated with a 78% reduction in mortality in COVID-19, when HRT users were compared to non-users.

“There were no reported events for all-cause mortality in women prescribed COCPs. This prevented further examination of the impact of COCP,” they noted.