Can menopausal hormone replacement therapy (HRT) prevent heart disease or Alzheimer’s disease?
Some research has shown that women who start estrogen or certain types of hormone therapy around the time of menopause are less likely to get heart disease. But a very large study by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) had different results. The NIH research found that: • Estrogen alone didn’t affect the risk of a heart attack. Estrogen did increase the risk of stroke. Estrogen also increased the risk of blood clots in the legs. • Estrogen plus progestin may have slightly increased the risk of a heart attack. Estrogen plus progestin raised the risk of stroke and blood clots in the legs and lungs. Researchers continue to study this issue. The age at which HRT is started may be the key to whether this therapy reduces your chances of getting heart disease. Most of the women in the NIH study did not start HRT until after the age of 60. Yet menopause happens for most women after the age of 45. Some experts think that many of the women in the NIH study may have already developed nar
