Significant increases in risk were observed for all autoimmune diseases except Graves disease and autoimmune hepatitis
By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter
FRIDAY, Oct. 24, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Among postmenopausal women, hormone therapy (HT) use is associated with an increased incidence and risk for developing autoimmune disease, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the Menopause Society, held from Oct. 21 to 25 in Orlando, Florida.
Ameera Syed, from Reading Hospital in West Reading, Pennsylvania, and colleagues examined the association between HT use and incidence of autoimmune diseases among postmenopausal women in a retrospective cohort study. The HT and non-HT cohorts each included 889,413 postmenopausal women after propensity score-matching.
The researchers found that HT users had a higher incidence of autoimmune disease at five years (6.7 versus 5.3 percent), at 10 years (8.6 versus 6.7 percent), and across the postmenopausal period (9.0 versus 7.1 percent) compared with non-HT users. The risk for developing any autoimmune disease was significantly increased in association with HT use at five years, at 10 years, and at any point after menopause (risk ratios, 1.29, 1.28, and 1.27, respectively). For all autoimmune diseases except Graves disease and autoimmune hepatitis, significant increases in risk were seen, with risk ratios ranging from 1.03 for psoriasis to 2.90 for lichen sclerosis. Among HT users, the hazard of developing any autoimmune disease during the full follow-up period was also increased (hazard ratio, 1.33).
“Our study found a statistical link between hormone therapy and autoimmune diseases, but the actual increase in absolute risk is relatively small and varies by condition,” coauthor Xuezhi (Daniel) Jiang, M.D., Ph.D., from the Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia, said in a statement.
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