Menopausal hormone therapy and the incidence of carpal tunnel syndrome in postmenopausal women: Findings from the Women's Health Initiative.

Abstract

ImportanceCarpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is a common and debilitating condition that commonly affects postmenopausal women.ObjectiveTo determine the effect of menopausal hormone therapy (HT) in healthy postmenopausal women on CTS risk.DesignWe conducted a secondary analysis of the Women's Health Initiative's (WHI) HT trials linked to Medicare claims data. Separate intention-to-treat analyses were performed for the two trials; the conjugated equine estrogens alone (CEE alone) and the trial of CEE plus medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) trial. (ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT number): NCT00000611.SettingTwo randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials conducted at 40 US clinical centers.ParticipantsThe sample size included in the analysis was 16,053 community-dwelling women aged ≥65 years at study entry or those who later aged into Medicare eligibility, and who were enrolled in Medicare (including Part A and/or Part B coverage).InterventionWomen with hysterectomy were randomized to 0.625 mg/d of conjugated equine estrogens (CEE) or placebo (n = 8376). Women without hysterectomy were randomized to estrogen plus progestin (E+P), given as CEE plus 2.5 mg/d of medroxyprogesterone acetate (n = 14203).Main outcome(s)The primary outcome was incident CTS and the secondary outcome was therapeutic CTS procedure occurring during the intervention phases of the trials.ResultsA total of 16,053 women were randomized in both trials. During mean follow up of 4.5 ± 2.8 years in the CEE trial (n = 6,833), there were 203 incident CTS cases in the intervention and 262 incident CTS cases in the placebo group (HR, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.65-0.94; P = 0.009). The CEE+MPA trial (n = 9,220) followed participants for a mean of 3.7 ± 2.3 years. There were 173 incident CTS cases in the intervention compared to 203 cases in the placebo group (HR, 0.80, 95% CI, 0.65-0.97; P = 0.027).ConclusionsThese findings suggest a protective effect of menopausal HT on the incidence of CTS among postmenopausal women. A potential therapeutic role for other forms of estrogen therapy in the management of CTS warrants future research.