Adjuvant oestrogen therapy does not improve disease activity in postmenopausal patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Estrogen may not be helpful in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in postmenopausal women. Estrogen is the female sex hormone. RA is a degenerative disease affecting the joints. Forty postmenopausal women with RA were followed for one year in a double-blind controlled study. Patients were randomly assigned to receive 200 milligrams (mg) of the hormone progesterone and either 2 mg of estrogen or placebo over a 52 week period. The complete study consisted of four treatment cycles. Except for withdrawal bleeding due to progesterone, no side effects occurred in the estrogen group. The placebo group experienced no bleeding. Researchers found no differences between the groups based on pain, disease activity, erythrocyte sedimentation rate and health questionnaires. However, estrogen treatment may help improve bone mineral density in postmenopausal patients with RA.