Hormone replacement therapy and prevention of pressure ulcers and venous leg ulcers.

Pressure ulcers and venous leg ulcers are common chronic wounds. Oestrogens in the form of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) might have an effect on wound healing, but this possibility has not been studied in detail. Using a case-cohort study including elderly patients in the UK General Practice Research Database, we showed that patients who received HRT were less likely to develop a venous leg ulcer (age-adjusted relative risk 0.65 [95% CI 0.61-0.69]) or a pressure ulcer (0.68 [0.62-0.76]) than those who did not use HRT. Therefore, we believe that HRT could be beneficial for the prevention of these wounds.