Maturitas 49 (2004) 221–227 The effects of hormone therapy on pulmonary function tests in postmenopausal women Arif Serhan Cevrioglu a,* , Fatma Fidan b , Mehmet Unlu b , Mehmet Yilmazer a , Ayse Orman b , Ibrahim Veysel Fenkci a , Mustafa Serteser c a Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine, Afyon Kocatepe University, Dervispasa Mah., Dr. Mahzar Cad., Civelek Apt., No: 11, Kat 2, Daire: 15, Afyon 03200, Turkey b Department of Chest Disease, School of Medicine, Afyon Kocatepe University, Afyon, Turkey c Department of Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Afyon Kocatepe University, Afyon, Turkey Received 19 August 2003; received in revised form 13 January 2004; accepted 26 January 2004 Abstract Objective: To investigate the effects of hormone therapy (HT) administered to postmenopausal women on pulmonary function tests (PFT). Methods: Eighty-two postmenopausal women who were having natural or surgically initiated menopause and had no risk factor that could affect the respiratory system were included into this prospective, randomized study. Twenty-five women who refused to use HT were assessed as the control group (Group I). Nineteen women who accepted using HT and who were having surgically initiated menopause were given continuous estrogen (Group II), 23 were given continuous estrogen and progesterone in combination (Group III) and 15 were given cyclic estrogen and progesterone combination (Group IV). Forced expiratory volume (FEV 1 ), forced vital capacity (FVC), FEV 1 /FVC, forced expiratory flow rate over 25–75% of the forced vital capacity volume and peak expiratory flow rate were assessed at the beginning of the treatment and in the third month in order to evaluate the effects of HT regimens on the women’s PFT. Results: A statistically significant increase was observed only in the FEV 1 and FVC parameters of Group III after three months of therapy (P< 0.05). The comparison between pre- and posttherapy FEV 1 and FVC values showed an increase in the Group IV, but the difference was not statistically significant, while there was no difference between basal and third month FEV 1 and FVC values of the group receiving estrogen only. Conclusions: It was seen that particularly continuous combined HT regimen positively affected the FEV 1 and FVC parameters of the postmenopausal women. © 2004 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Menopause; Hormone therapy; Pulmonary function; Estrogen; Progesterone * Corresponding author. Tel.: +90-272-213-67-07x209; fax: +90-272-214-49-96. E-mail address: ascevrioglu@hotmail.com (A.S. Cevrioglu). 1. Introduction Data from recent researches demonstrate that post- menopausal hormone therapy (HT) constituting use of estrogen and progesterone combination for more than 5 years increased relative risks related to inva- sive breast cancer and cardiovascular disease, while 0378-5122/$ – see front matter © 2004 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.maturitas.2004.01.009