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Some women 65 and older can safely use hormone therapy to treat menopause symptoms

Women over the age of 60 can still experience menopausal symptoms like hot flashes. Yet it’s around that age when they may be told to stop hormone therapy. Now a new, large-scale study found that continuing hormone therapy is a reasonable option for some. 

Dr. Jewel Kling, chair of Women's Health Internal Medicine at the Mayo Clinic, says much more is known about the safety of hormone therapy early in the menopause transition. 

But there wasn’t a lot of information about the risks well into it — until now.

"I think overall, it showed for women over age 65 there that were on different types, routes or dose of hormone therapy, they found overall that it appeared safe," Kling said. 

Kling says many women still experience hot flashes and night sweats well into their 60s. 

"What this study does is it really supports the menopause society statement that says that we shouldn't arbitrarily stop hormone therapy because of age," Klings aid. 

The study looked at the records of 10 million women on Medicare from 2007 to 2020. 

KJZZ senior field correspondent Kathy Ritchie has 20 years of experience reporting and writing stories for national and local media outlets — nearly a decade of it has been spent in public media.