Hormone Therapy Linked to Increased Autoimmune Disease Risk

Sometimes research findings contradict our hypotheses entirely. Dr. Daniel Jiang expected to find that hormone therapy might protect postmenopausal women against autoimmune diseases by replacing declining estrogen. Instead, his analysis revealed the opposite pattern.

Using data from the TriNetX global health network, Dr. Jiang found that hormone therapy was associated with increased risk of autoimmune disease development—and that risk increased with longer duration of use. The pattern appeared across nearly all autoimmune conditions examined.

These findings don't mean hormone therapy should be abandoned, but they do add an important consideration to the risk-benefit discussions we have with patients. Understanding what the data actually shows—and what it doesn't—is essential for evidence-based counseling.

In this segment, Dr. Jiang walks through the main findings from his research and his initial reaction to results that surprised even the investigator.

In this segment, Dr. Jiang covers:

• The unexpected direction of the findings
• Which autoimmune diseases showed increased risk
• How risk changed over time (5, 10, and 20 years)
• The magnitude of risk increases observed
• Why these findings were "shocking" even to the researcher

Series Navigation

• Part 1: Investigating Hormone Therapy and Autoimmune Disease Risk: Study Background and Rationale
• Part 2: Hormone Therapy Linked to Increased Autoimmune Disease Risk (You are here)
• Part 3: Clinical Guidance: Counseling Patients Without Creating Hormone Therapy Phobia
• Part 4: Future Research Directions and Study Limitations