Characteristics of nasal epithelial cells in naturally postmenopausal women receiving hormone therapy with 1 mg of 17Beta-estradiol and 2 mg of drospirenone: a prospective study

Objective: To investigate the effects of drospirenone on nasal respiratory epithelium in postmenopausal womenwho are treated with hormone therapy (HT).Design: Thirty-five naturally postmenopausal women participated in the prospective study. Women receivedcontinuous-combined HT containing 1 mg 17A-estradiol and 2 mg drospirenone. Cytological changes of nasalmiddle and inferior turbinate respiratory epithelium were evaluated by using the maturation index, performed atbaseline and on the sixth cycle of HT.Results: Hematoxylin-eosin staining for the maturation index of the epithelial nasal cells of women reachedbetter trophic aspects during 17A-estradiol/drospirenone intake with respect to those observed at baseline(P G 0.001). The smears during HT emphasized the superficial and the intermediate types of cells, with a ratioindex greater than 2. The parabasal cell content was less than 20%, and the karyopyknotic index showeddegenerative changes in superficial and intermediate cells.Conclusions: Our study confirmed that the nasal respiratory epithelium is an ovarian steroid target.Drospirenone acts on nasal cells similarly to other progestogens.