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Original Article
Volume 328:1069-1075 April 15, 1993 Number 15
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Association of Hormone-Replacement Therapy with Various Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Postmenopausal Women
Azmi A. Nabulsi, Aaron R. Folsom, Alice White, Wolfgang Patsch, Gerardo Heiss, Kenneth K. Wu, Moyses Szklo, for The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study Investigators

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ABSTRACT

Background Most epidemiologic studies of cardiovascular disease in postmenopausal women suggest that estrogen-replacement therapy has a protective effect. The effects of the use of estrogen combined with progestin are less well studied.

Methods To examine the associations of hormone-replacement therapy with concentrations of plasma lipids and hemostatic factors, fasting serum concentrations of glucose and insulin, and blood pressure, we studied 4958 postmenopausal women participating in a population-based investigation. Using cross-sectional data, we classified the women into four groups according to their use of hormone-replacement therapy: current users of estrogen alone, current users of estrogen with progestin, nonusers who had formerly used these hormones, and nonusers who had never used them.

Results Current users had higher mean levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, its subfractions high-density lipoprotein2 and high-density lipoprotein3, and apolipoprotein A-I than nonusers, and lower mean levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, apolipoprotein B, lipoprotein(a), fibrinogen, antithrombin III, and fasting serum glucose and insulin. However, current users of estrogen alone had higher triglyceride, factor VII, and protein C levels than either nonusers or current users of estrogen with progestin. After making certain assumptions, we estimated that the findings, if causal, would translate into a reduction of 42 percent in the risk of coronary heart disease in users of hormones as compared with nonusers. Women using estrogen with progestin would have an even greater estimated benefit.

Conclusions A randomized trial is needed to eliminate possible selection biases in our observational study that are related to the prescription of replacement hormones. Nevertheless, hormone-replacement therapy appears to be associated with a favorable physiologic profile, which probably mediates its protective effects on cardiovascular disease. The use of estrogen combined with progestin appears to be associated with a better profile than the use of estrogen alone.


Source Information

From the Division of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis (A.A.N., A.R.F.); the ESP Division, Burroughs-Wellcome Company, Research Triangle Park, N.{beta}(A.W.); the Atherosclerosis Clinical Laboratory, Methodist Hospital, Houston (W.P.); the School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (G.H.); the Division of Hematology-Oncology, University of Texas Medical School, Houston (K.K.W.); and the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, Baltimore (M.S.).

Address reprint requests to Dr. Folsom at the Division of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, 1300 S. Second St., Suite 300, Minneapolis, MN 55454.

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Related Letters:

Hormone Replacement and Cardiovascular Risk Factors
Zumoff B., Crook D., Stevenson J. C., Daubresse J.-C., Bluming A. Z., Nabulsi A. A., Folsom A. R., White A., Martin K. A., Freeman M. W.
Extract | Full Text  
N Engl J Med 1993; 329:1041-1043, Sep 30, 1993. Correspondence

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