Results of a 14-year study of more than 85,000 healthy women
indicates taking estrogen after menopause may help prevent heart
disease.
But another study suggests the female sex hormone is of
no use in preventing second heart attacks in women already
diagnosed with heart disease.
The bottom line is that healthy lifestyle does contribute to a
reduction in heart disease but we will need to wait for the
results of other studies to find out if estrogen does really have
a role in prevention.
The two studies are published in
the New England Journal of Medicine. In the first study, a team
reports that women given hormone replacement after menopause cut the risk
of heart disease by about 9 percent. In the second study,
involving 309 women with heart disease reports that estrogen did no better at slowing
heart disease than did a placebo, or sugar pill.
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