According to a new study published in BMJ Open, estrogen supplementation appears to be tied to a reduced risk of death from COVID-19 among postmenopausal women.

Among postmenopausal women aged between 50 and 80 years with confirmed COVID-19, those who received estrogen as part of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for menopausal symptoms had less than half the odds of death due to COVID, compared to those not receiving estrogen, even after adjusting for confounders.

Of the 14,685 women included in the study, 17.3% had received estrogen supplementation (HRT), 81.2% had native estrogen levels with no breast cancer or HRT (controls), and 1.5% had decreased estrogen levels because of breast cancer and antiestrogen treatment.

Women with decreased estrogen levels were found to have more than double the risk of dying from COVID-19 compared to controls (odds ratio, 2.35); however, this difference was not significant after adjustments for potential confounders, such as age, income, and educational level, and weighted Charlson Comorbidity Index (wCCI). However, women with increased estrogen levels had a reduced risk of death from COVID-19 both before (odds ratio, 0.45) and after (odds ratio, 0.47) adjustment. Around 4.6% of controls, 10.1% of those with decreased estrogen, and 2.1% with increased estrogen levels died due to COVID-19… (Medscape)