Can biomarkers identify women at increased stroke risk? The Women's Health Initiative Hormone Trials.
OBJECTIVE
The Women's Health Initiative hormone trials identified a 44% increase in ischemic stroke risk with combination estrogen plus progestin and a 39% increase with estrogen alone. We undertook a case-control biomarker study to elucidate underlying mechanisms, and to potentially identify women who would be at lower or higher risk for stroke with postmenopausal hormone therapy (HT).


METHODS
The hormone trials were randomized, double-blind, and placebo controlled.


METHODS
The Women's Health Initiative trials were conducted at 40 clinical centers in the United States.


METHODS
The trials enrolled 27,347 postmenopausal women, aged 50-79 y.


METHODS
We randomized 16,608 women with intact uterus to conjugated estrogens 0.625 mg with medroxyprogesterone acetate 2.5 mg daily or placebo, and 10,739 women with prior hysterectomy to conjugated estrogens 0.625 mg daily or placebo.


METHODS
Stroke was ascertained during 5.6 y of follow-up in the estrogen plus progestin trial and 6.8 y of follow-up in the estrogen alone trial.


RESULTS
No baseline clinical characteristics, including gene polymorphisms, identified women for whom the stroke risk from HT was higher. Paradoxically, women with higher baseline levels of some stroke-associated biomarkers had a lower risk of stroke when assigned to estrogen plus progestin compared to placebo. For example, those with higher IL-6 were not at increased stroke risk when assigned to estrogen plus progestin (odds ratio 1.28) but were when assigned to placebo (odds ratio 3.47; p for difference = 0.02). Similar findings occurred for high baseline PAP, leukocyte count, and D-dimer. However, only an interaction of D-dimer during follow-up interaction with HT and stroke was marginally significant (p = 0.03).


CONCLUSIONS
Biomarkers did not identify women at higher stroke risk with postmenopausal HT. Some biomarkers appeared to identify women at lower stroke risk with estrogen plus progestin, but these findings may be due to chance.
Kooperberg
Charles
C
Division of Public Health Sciences, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington, United States of America. clk@fhcrc.org
Cushman
Mary
M
Hsia
Judith
J
Robinson
Jennifer G
JG
Aragaki
Aaron K
AK
Lynch
John K
JK
Baird
Alison E
AE
Johnson
Karen C
KC
Kuller
Lewis H
LH
Beresford
Shirley A A
SA
Rodriguez
Beatriz
B