Hormone therapy use in postmenopausal women may be associated with a smaller biological aging discrepancy, particularly among women with lower socioeconomic status, potentially linking hormone therapy to reduced mortality, according to a recent study.

The cohort study, published in JAMA Network Open, examined the relationship between hormone therapy (HT), socioeconomic status (SES), and biological aging in postmenopausal women, along with its potential link to mortality risk. The study included 117,763 postmenopausal women from the UK Biobank, with 47,461 participants (40.3%) reporting HT use. 

Researchers measured biological age using phenotypic age, which integrates biomarkers to estimate biological versus chronological age. Women who used HT had a smaller biological age discrepancy (β, −0.17 years; 95% confidence interval [CI] = −0.23 to −0.10) compared to nonusers. The effect was more pronounced in women who began HT after age 55 (β, −0.32 years; 95% CI = −0.48 to −0.15) and those who used HT for 4 to 8 years (β, −0.25 years; 95% CI = −0.35 to −0.15). Women with lower SES showed a greater association between HT use and reduced biological aging, particularly those with lower educational attainment (P for interaction = .02).

The study also found that the smaller aging discrepancy mediated 12.7% (95% CI = 6.3%-23.9%) of the association between HT use and reduced all-cause mortality. 

Full disclosures can be found in the published study.