Postmenopausal women who are receiving hormone therapy appear to have increased physical performance based on gait speed and timed up-and-go tests, as shown in a cross-sectional study.
Researchers used data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging and included 12,506 postmenopausal women for the cross-sectional study. The women were assessed for grip strength (kg), gait speed (m/s), timed up-and-go (s), chair rise (s), and balance (s) according to standard procedures.
Linear regression models were used to examine the association between menopausal hormone therapy and physical performance. Factors such as age, education, study site, smoking, alcohol consumption, body mass index, diabetes, hypertension, and hysterectomy were included as potential confounders. Sensitivity analyses were also performed according to age at study visit (<65 vs ≥65 years), body mass index (<25 vs ≥25 kg/m2), physical activity level (less vs more active), duration and type of menopausal hormone therapy, and time of therapy initiation.
Compared with participants who had never used menopausal hormone therapy, those who used it previously or currently had faster gait speed (β, 0.01, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.00–0.02) and better performance on the timed up-and-go test (β, −0.19, 95 percent CI, −0.28 to −0.11).
There were no significant between-group differences observed for grip strength, balance, and chair rise.
The findings were not altered by body mass index, physical activity, or duration of menopausal hormone therapy use. When stratified by age at study visit, the effect of menopausal hormone therapy remained significant only among participants who were 65 years of age or beyond.
Finally, initiating menopausal hormone therapy not more than 5 years after menopause was associated with better physical performance.
Prospective data are warranted to validate the results.