Hormone patch could be safer than pills in relieving the symptoms of the menopause

According to new research by French scientists hormone skin patches and gels are far less likely than pills to cause dangerous blood clots.

Hormone skin patches and gels are proven to be effective in relieving the hot flashes and night sweats that many women battle with during the menopause.

Whether they are any safer than pills when it comes to increased risks for breast cancer, heart attack or stroke, is as yet undetermined but it is hoped a large study currently under way may resolve that issue.

Should they indeed prove to be safer, it may reassure the many women who were frightened away from using hormone replacement therapy by a study in 2002 which found higher rates of stroke among those taking estrogen, and of stroke and breast cancer with estrogen-progestin use.

The study tested Prempro and Premarin, made by Wyeth, both of which contain synthetic estrogens made from the urine of pregnant horses.

Many experts believe that estrogens from plant sources are a closer comparative to what the human body naturally produces and therefore may be safer; plant derived hormones appear in many competitors' pills and also in patches, creams and gels.

Experts in the U.S. say while the French study is not the final word, it provides the strongest proof yet that the method of taking a drug and possibly the dose are important factors.

The French researchers compared 271 women ages 45 to 70 who suffered blood clots to 610 similar women without clots.

They found women taking various hormone pills were more than four times more likely to suffer clots than women not taking hormones or receiving them through patches, gels or creams.

It is thought that oral estrogens possibly cause clots because they pass through the liver causing some clotting factors to be produced, whereas hormones absorbed through skin patches enter directly into the bloodstream, and therefore can be given in far lower doses to be effective.

Women are advised to tell their doctors about any other drugs, vitamins or supplements they are taking as some herbal supplements such as St. John's wort can decrease blood-estrogen levels, undermining the relief any hormone treatment can give as can certain antibiotics and other drugs.

The study was paid for by the French government and partly by hormone drug and patch makers.