In contrast to its usual role in reducing heart risk, starting estrogen replacement therapy may actually increase the risk of heart problems in postmenopausal women who have already been diagnosed with heart disease, reported a North Carolina researcher at the American College of Cardiology in New Orleans. In a study of more than 1,850 female heart attack patients that was originally designed to look at the protective effects of aspirin, more than 37% of women who began hormone replacement therapy after the study began were hospitalized with unstable angina -- chest pain not triggered by exertion, as in stable angina -- within a year. In contrast, the hospitalization rate for women who had never used hormone replacement therapy was 17%, and the rate for those already on hormone replacement therapy prior to aspirin therapy was 21%. The study results are similar to those reported by a team of researchers at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) last summer. Nearly a third of women with heart disease in the UCSF study who began estrogen replacement therapy after beginning either aspirin or the blood-thinning drug Coumadin were hospitalized with unstable angina within a year, compared with a hospitalization rate of 21% in those already on estrogen.

COMMENT: Well folks, here is additional information. Last summer the definitive evidence was published showing that estrogen does NOT protect against heart disease. This is in spite of what the drug companies have been saying for years. They were able to manipulate data and convince many physicians of this and help push products like Premarin to one of the best selling drugs ever. If you or someone you know is on estrogen, please be advised that this is something you should aggressively attempt to stop.