Women Using Hormone Therapy Have Healthier Lifestyles

WEDNESDAY, June 24, 2026 (HealthDay News) — Women who use hormone therapy (HT) tend to adopt healthier lifestyles, according to a study published online June 16 in Menopause.

Jillian Shillito, from the University of British Columbia – Okanagan in Kelowna, Canada, and colleagues examined dietary intake, physical activity, and sleep, overall and in relation to guidelines, by menopausal and HT status. Analysis included 10,381 female participants in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging.

The researchers found that postmenopausal women who never used HT reported lower intake of fruit/vegetables. Never-HT users were also 19 percent less likely to meet strength-based activity guidelines. Postmenopausal women who had never used HT or had used HT in the past had shorter sleep duration than pre/perimenopausal women. Compared with pre/perimenopausal women, the likelihood of meeting sleep guidelines was 14 percent lower in never, 26 percent lower in current, and 24 percent lower in past HT users.

“Women who choose to use hormone therapy are often more proactive in their health care and may systematically differ from nonusers in socioeconomic resources, access to care, and health literacy,” Stephanie Faubion, M.D., medical director for The Menopause Society, said in a statement. “This largely explains why early observational studies of hormone therapy suggested cardiovascular benefits that were not confirmed in subsequent randomized, controlled trials.”

Abstract/Full Text