HRT increases stroke risk by a third, says study

HORMONE replacement therapy increases the risk of stroke by almost a third, a review of clinical trials revealed yesterday.

Concerns about the safety of long-term HRT use have grown in recent years after a series of studies linked it with a higher risk of breast cancer, heart attack and stroke.

While there were more than 450,000 prescriptions here for HRT in 2003, there were just 88,000 between January and May last year, according to figures from the General Medical Services Payments Board.