Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
Hormone therapy was not shown to decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease in women.
"Despite decades of evidence from observational studies, the use of hormone therapy for the prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) among postmenopausal women is controversial," stated investigators at Monash University in Australia. "The recent completion of several randomized clinical trials examining the effects of hormone therapy on CVD presents an opportunity to provide a more precise estimate of the cardiovascular risks of hormone therapy."
"To summarize the effects of hormone therapy on CVD in postmenopausal women," explained D.J. Magliano and colleagues, "MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, DARE and CENTRAL were searched for clinical trials reporting mortality and/or CVD outcomes in association with hormone therapy. Bibliographies and editorials were also reviewed. All studies were reviewed and rated for quality independently by two reviewers. High quality, randomized placebo-controlled clinical trials of hormone therapy (duration greater than one year) in nonhospitalized postmenopausal women were included. Summary relative risks were estimated for all-cause mortality, coronary heart disease (CHD) mortality, non-fatal acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and all stroke."
"Seven randomized clinical trials met the inclusion criteria. The use of hormone therapy had no significant effect on all-cause mortality, nonfatal AMI or CHD mortality, with relative risks of 1.02 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.93-1.13], 1.00 (0.88-1.14) and 0.99 (0.82-1.21), respectively. For all stroke, the summary relative risk was 1.29 (1.13-1.48)," the researchers reported.
They concluded, "This systematic review, incorporating the latest available trial data, shows that hormone therapy does not significantly change the risk of all-cause morality, CHD death or nonfatal AMI but increases the risk of stroke in postmenopausal women."
Magliano and colleagues published their report in BJOG - an International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (Hormone therapy and cardiovascular disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BJOG, 2006;113(1):5-14).
For additional information, contact D.J. Magliano, Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Central and Eastern Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; E-mail: dianna.magliano@med.monash.edu.au.
Publisher contact information for the BJOG - an International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology is: Blackwell Publishing, 9600 Garsington Rd., Oxford OX4 2DQ, England.
Keywords: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Hormone Therapy, Cardiovascular Disease, CVD, Heart Disease, Coronary Artery Disease, Cardioprevention, Women's Health. This article was prepared by Biotech Law Weekly editors from staff and other reports. Copyright 2006, Biotech Law Weekly via LawRx.com.
To see more of the NewsRx.com, or to subscribe, go to http://www.newsrx.com.
© 2004 NewsRx.com. All Rights Reserved.;;©Copyright 2006, Biotech Law Weekly via LawRx.com
