Transdermal and low-dose oral ERT does not affect homocysteine metabolism.

2004 AUG 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- According to a report in the journal Atherosclerosis, transdermal and low-dose oral estrogen replacement therapy does not significantly affect homocysteine metabolism.

"This finding does not support a role for transdermal estrogen in the prevention of ischemic heart disease in postmenopausal women," wrote K. Lacut and colleagues, at Cavale Blanche Hospital, France.

"Mild hyperhomocysteinemia is a risk factor for both ischemic heart disease and venous thromboembolism. The effects of transdermal estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) on homocysteine metabolism in postmenopausal women have scarcely been investigated," the researchers said.

They conducted a clinical trial, therefore, "to estimate the effects of combined hormone replacement therapy on the fasting total homocysteine levels according to the estrogen route of administration."

Study subjects were 196 postmenopausal women "randomly allocated to receive on a continuous basis either 1 mg of 17 beta-estradiol orally (n=63) or 50 mcg transdermally (n=68) per day, both combined with a daily intake of 100 mg progesterone, or placebo (n=65) over a period of 6 months."

Lacut and colleagues found that "[n]either oral nor transdermal ERT significantly affected total plasma homocysteine levels or red-blood cell folate levels. However, oral ERT significantly decreased plasma vitamin B[subscript]12 levels ...