Dec. 18, 2000 -- New research suggests that postmenopausal women who take hormone replacement therapy are about 40% less likely to have a heart attack than women who've never used hormones. However, the standard dose of hormones appears to increase a woman's likelihood of having a stroke, while low-dose estrogen does not. This study gives women and their doctors another piece of information to consider when deciding whether hormone therapy is the right way to go.

In this large study, published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, researchers asked a large group of women to answer questions about their hormone use and health. After following the women for 20 years, the researchers found that hormones may prevent heart attack, but some doses may increase the risk of stroke.

There was a decreased risk of heart attack in women taking a typical dose of estrogen (0.625 mg) each day compared to women who had never taken hormones. The risk of having a stroke, however, increased in women who took estrogen at this standard dose or higher doses or who took a combination of estrogen and progestin. Low-dose estrogen (0.3 mg per day), on the other hand, offered the same protective effect on the heart as the standard dose but did not cause the same increased risk of stroke.

"Estrogen has many benefits and nothing in the literature would prevent me from prescribing it," Daniel McGunegle, MD, tells WebMD. "However, in my conversations with patients, I discuss all its benefits, including its effect in preventing osteoporosis." McGunegle is a professor of ob-gyn at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, in Lubbock.

Because estrogen has many effects, a postmenopausal woman should discuss it with her doctor, and then evaluate her own personal circumstances. McGunegle emphasizes that any woman who still has a uterus and uses hormone replacement therapy must take estrogen only in combination with progestin, because adding progesterone will reduce the risk of cancer of the uterus -- endometrial cancer.

"The most important thing is that women should be informed about the full range of ways they can maintain their health," Francine Grodstein, ScD, tells WebMD. "Hormone therapy may or may not be a part of that. Women should be sure to get enough exercise, stop smoking, and eat a healthy diet, because we know these steps will prevent heart disease, and they carry no additional risks." Grodstein, lead author of the article, is an assistant professor of medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, both in Boston.

(From Excite.com)