Additional follow-up data from HERS show no cardiovascular benefit from hormone replacement therapy in older women with coronary disease.
In the blinded, randomized, 4.1-year Heart and Estrogen/progestin Replacement Study (HERS), researchers found no overall reduction in coronary events among postmenopausal women (mean age, 67) with coronary disease who received daily estrogen and progestin (Journal Watch Aug 28 1998). In 2 reports from an unblinded follow-up study (mean, 2.7 years of additional follow-up), investigators analyzed results for more than 2300 of the original 2763 women who participated in HERS.
No significant decreases were noted in rates of coronary events or secondary cardiovascular events among women who took hormones compared with those who took placebo, even after adjustment for confounders, including differing use of statins. During the entire 6.8 years of …