HRT Improves Blood Flow To Heart In Postmenopausal Women.(hormone replacement therapy)

2002 FEB 21 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A new study appearing in the January 29, 2002, issue of Circulation shows that use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in postmenopausal women with no coronary risk factors improves blood flow to the heart and may be helpful in preventing heart disease, the leading cause of death in menopausal women in the United States.

Drs. Roxana Campisi, Lauren Nathan, Gautam Chaudhuri, and Heinz Schelbert, from the departments of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology and Obstetrics and Gynecology and other colleagues from the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Medicine studied blood flow at rest and during stress to the heart in 54 postmenopausal women, 31 of whom were taking HRT, and 12 young healthy women who served as controls.

Postmenopausal women not taking HRT (with or without risk factors for CAD) had abnormal blood flow readings during stress. HRT was found to improve blood flow following stress in postmenopausal women with no coronary artery disease (CAD) risk factors.

The study showed that the group of postmenopausal women who had no risk factors and took estrogen had a blood flow during stress comparable to that of a 24-year-old woman, indicating estrogen may improve blood flow at times of stress to the heart. The improvement in blood flow was the same whether or not women were taking estrogen alone or estrogen plus a progestogen, leading the researchers to conclude that ...