Estrogen Therapy Mitigates Risk for Coronary Artery Disease in Younger Menopausal Women

Coronary-artery calcification was lower in postmenopausal women who used estrogen therapy while in their 50s.

Initial results of the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) suggested that oral conjugated equine estrogen (CEE) was not cardioprotective in women who had previously undergone hysterectomy. Recent WHI reports (Journal Watch Women’s Health Apr 4 2006), however, have raised the possibility that CEE is cardioprotective when used by menopausal women in their 50s. In an ancillary substudy of women who were aged 50 to 59 at randomization in the WHI, investigators assessed the effect of CEE on coronary-artery calcium, a marker of total plaque burden predictive of future cardiovascular events. Median duration of treatment was 7.4 years, and the average age at the time of coronary-artery calcium measurement by noninvasive imaging was 65. Coronary-artery …

Reviewing Author

Andrew M. Kaunitz, MD

Disclosures

RoyaltiesUpToDate

Grant/Research SupportMerck, Mithra, Medicines360

Editorial BoardsContraception; Menopause; Contraceptive Technology Update; OBG Management; Medscape OB/GYN & Women’s Health

Andrew M. Kaunitz, MD

Disclosures

RoyaltiesUpToDate

Grant/Research SupportMerck, Mithra, Medicines360

Editorial BoardsContraception; Menopause; Contraceptive Technology Update; OBG Management; Medscape OB/GYN & Women’s Health