A new study from the Women’s Health Initiative has found that hormone replacement therapy for menopause does not affect quality of life.

Many women reported that the drugs helped them feel more energetic, or have more sexual pleasure or even more restful sleep. But researchers said the benefits did not outweigh the increased risk of serious side effects, including heart problems, stroke, blood clots and breast cancer, associated with combined estrogen and progestin therapy.

“There is a sizeable placebo effect associated with hormone use that may contribute to the perceived improvements in health-related quality of life reported by some women,” the WHI researchers wrote in the new study, which will be published in the May 8 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

The drug being tested was Wyeth’s Prempro, a combination of estrogen and progestins.

(via Wired News)