Menopause Empowerment Guide | 3 What Does The New Research Say? You can read the 28-page document here3, and this article summarizes the highlights, but here are some of the most noteworthy developments to come as a result of the reanalysis. Benefits of Hormone Therapy For the majority of healthy women in perimenopause, menopause, and post-menopause, who do not have contraindications, the benefits of treating menopause symptoms with hormone therapy outweigh the risks. 1 Hormone therapy is an effective treatment for hot flashes and night sweats. For women whose daily lives are disrupted by these menopause symptoms, hormone therapy can improve sleep quality, fatigue, mood, and quality of life. 2 Hormone therapy can reduce the risk of broken bones and osteoporosis. 3 Hormone therapy can treat the genitourinary syndrome of menopause: recurrent UTIs, painful sex, vaginal dryness. Hormone Therapy and Cancer For women with a uterus who take estrogen combined with progesterone:  There is no increased risk of uterine cancer.  The risk of breast cancer may increase very slightly if hormones are taken for more than 4 years, but at the time of diagnosis, breast cancer is likely to be a lower stage with a lower chance of death than women not on hormone therapy. For women without a uterus who take estrogen:  There is no increased risk of breast cancer for the first 7 years, but the risk may increase slightly if used for longer. For women with a family history of breast cancer:  Hormone therapy does not further increase the risk of breast cancer.