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Researchers found that 55.5 percent of women who were suffering moderate or severe hot flashes when they began taking hormone therapy experienced them again when they stopped, compared with 21 percent of those on a placebo.

For all women in the study, 21 percent had hot flashes after discontinuing, compared with 5 percent of those taking a placebo.

The journal authors, led by University of Massachusetts Medical School researcher Judith Ockene, said it was unclear how long women experienced renewed symptoms.

The Food and Drug Administration now recommends that hormone treatment be used for the shortest time possible, and at the lowest dosage.

But some experts said the study adds to the reasons to avoid hormone therapy entirely.

"The bottom line is that the more we study hormone therapy, the less attractive it seems and the more we realize how much money women have been wasting — and continue to waste — on this therapy," said Diana Zuckerman, president of the National Research Center for Women & Families.

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