Hormone Replacement Therapy and Heart Disease

Four years ago, the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) study found an association between hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and an increased risk of breast cancer and heart disease. Now Professor Virginia Miller of the U.S. Mayo Clinic College of Medicine suggests that HRT may be ok if women take it between the ages of 50 and 58. She and colleagues are currently recruiting women to participate in the Kronos Early Estrogen Prevention Study (KEEPS) who are between 42 and 58 years old, in contrast to the average age of 63 in the WHI study.

KEEPS is a randomized, controlled, double-blinded trial of 720 women designed to provide prospective data on the risks and benefits of early menopausal hormone therapy (MHT), particularly as it relates to the progression of atherosclerosis. The results of the Women’s Health Initiative estrogen plus progestin trial, which was halted by the National Institutes of Health in July 2002, prompted a consortium of health researchers to study the risks and benefits of MHT on a younger subset of women who recently entered menopause. Prior to the WHI, most data suggested that hormone replacement therapy was associated with a high degree of protection (30 to 50 percent reductions) against coronary heart disease, all-cause mortality and osteoporotic fractures, in addition to a small increase in breast cancer risk.

Results are due to be reported in 2010.

Scientific American, December 21, 2006

Tags: hrt, hormone replacement therapy, heart disease, heart, women, womens health, cardiovascular disease, menopause, kronos early estrogen prevention study, virginia miller