HRT 'Could Cut the Risk of Heart Disease'

Jun 21, 04:26 PM

Current Headlines: By Jenny Hope

HORMONE replacement therapy could help women to beat heart disease, a controversial study has revealed.

Women using one type of HRT were shown to have healthier arteries than those using other forms of the drug or receiving no treatment.

Doctors say the findings show that millions of women may have been scared into abandoning the therapy unnecessarily.

The study, by the Women's Health Initiative and published in the New England Journal of Medicine, looked at 1,064 women aged between 50 and 59, taking either Premarin - an oestrogen-only HRT normally reserved for those who have had hysterectomies - or HRT 'could a placebo pill, over seven years. A year after treatment had ended, each woman was given a CT scan to measure the levels of calcium plaque in their arteries.

Researchers found the HRT group was 30 to 40 per cent less likely to have coronary artery calcium than the placebo group.

Calcium in the arteries is considered an early warning sign of blocked blood vessels and heart disease.

The study also found that younger postmenopausal women using oestrogen-only risk of heart HRT built up significantly less calcium deposit in their arteries than those of the same age not receiving treatment.

Lead author Dr JoAnn Manson, of the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, said: 'Although our findings lend support to the theory that oestrogen may slow early stages of plaque build- up in the coronary arteries, oestrogen has complex effects and other known risks.

'It should not be used for preventing cardiovascular disease but it may be appropriate for the short-term treatment of hot flashes or night sweats among menopausal women.' In 2002, a WHI study caused a heart disease' worldwide health scare after claiming those using HRT were at a higher risk of heart disease and strokes.

But its conclusions were overturned in April when re-analysis of the data found the extra risks may apply only to older patients in their 60s and 70s who do not normally use HRT.

The study also showed HRT cut heart attacks among women in their 50s and did not increase the risk of a stroke.

Dr John Stevenson, of the British Menopause Society and Women's Health Concern charity, said: 'It's very confusing for women after they were told by the same researchers of the dangers of HRT.'

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