Estrogen replacement and cardiovascular disease: serum lipids and blood pressure effects.
Coronary heart disease, a major cause of morbidity and death, is the leading cause of death in older women, with an incidence that approaches that in men of comparable age. Estrogen favorably alters lipid metabolism and should therefore diminish the risk for coronary heart disease in estrogen users. Epidemiologic data from case-control and prospective cohort studies have suggested that estrogen use may confer protection from cardiovascular disease and decrease all-cause mortality rates in postmenopausal women. Because the age-adjusted mortality rate due to heart disease among American women is approximately four times the combined mortality rate due to endometrial and breast cancers, even modest changes in the risk of fatal heart disease after estrogen use would dramatically impact the overall risk-benefit equation.
Hazzard
W R
WR
Department of Internal Medicine, Bowman Gray School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 27103.
D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects*; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control*; D015914:Estrogen Replacement Therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008055:Lipids / Q000097:blood*; D008074:Lipoproteins / Q000097:blood
D008055:Lipids; D008074:Lipoproteins