Women who received prescriptions for hormone replacement therapy (HRT) with estrogen within 6 months of a COVID-19 diagnosis had reduced mortality, according to a new study in Family Practice.
The findings, coupled with data on sex differences between male and female COVID-19 severity, suggests estrogen may have protective role against the virus.
The study was based on medical records gathered from the Oxford-Royal College of General Practitioners Research and Surveillance Centre primary care database.
Researchers looked at women ages 18 and older who received prescriptions for hormone replacement therapy or combined oral contraceptive pill, which contains estrogen.A total of 1,863,478 women from 465 general practices in England were included in the study.