New research finds that hormone replacement therapy provides a range of benefits to older women, even many who have long since passed through menopause.

The findings are reassuring to doctors, many of whom say they've been providing hormone therapy for years to women in desperate need of relief from hot flashes, night sweats, and other menopausal symptoms.

In the 1990s, doctors routinely prescribed hormone replacement therapy to older women believing it helped their hearts as well as it relieved
unpleasant symptoms of menopause.

Then came studies linking hormone treatment to increased risks for blood clots, stroke, heart attack, and breast cancer, which caused millions of women to stop taking the pills.

But currently, hormones remain the most effective treatment for menopause symptoms, and many women say they are willing to chance the health risks to get some relief.

New research supports this notion, finding the benefits of hormones may outweigh the risks for those with active symptoms of menopause.

Doctors studied 5,700 women in Australia, Great Britain, and New Zealand and found that hormone therapy reduced hot flashes, night sweats, aching joints and insomnia - even among those who had completed menopause.

The findings support other emerging research suggesting that many women can take hormones safely -- provided they have no major health problems and they use the smallest dose for the shortest amount of time.