Progestin linked to hearing loss in older women.Elderly women who received progestin progestin /pro·ges·tin/ (-jes´tin) progestational agent. pro·ges·tin n. 1. A natural or synthetic progestational substance that mimics some or all of the actions of progesterone. as part of hormone replacement therapy Hormone Replacement Therapy Definition Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is the use of synthetic or natural female hormones to make up for the decline or lack of natural hormones produced in a woman's body. have poorer hearing than do women who didn't get progestin, a new study finds. Researchers tested the hearing of 124 women ages 60 to 86. Of these, 30 bad received estrogen alone, 32 got combination therapy including estrogen and progestin, and 62 didn't take either hormone. The women who had received hormones took them for 5 to 35 years. The scientists analyzed the women's hearing in several tests, including one that gauges problems discerning speech amid background noise--a common complaint among elderly people. The women who had received either no hormones or estrogen alone fared significantly better, on average, on all the tests than did those who had received progestin, the researchers report in the Sept. 19 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, usually referred to as PNAS, is the official journal of the United States National Academy of Sciences. . It's unclear how progestin might affect hearing, says study coauthor Robert D. Frisina, a neuroscientist at the University of Rochester Medical Center The University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC), located in Rochester, New York, is one of the main campuses of the University of Rochester and comprises the university's primary medical education, research and patient care facilities. in New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of . He notes that the combination therapy delivers estrogen and progestin in regular doses every day. "That timing is completely different from normal pregnancy or menstrual cycles," during which the hormone concentrations are elevated some days and not others, Frisina says.--N.S. |
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