Does HRT cause heart or cerebrovascular disease?

The Women's Health Initiative, a major independent 15-year research program begun in 1991, reported in 2002 that the demonstrated risks of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) outweighed benefits in asymptomatic women. Increased risks for stroke, deep vein thrombosis, dementia, incontinence and breast cancer were so clearly demonstrated, in fact, that the HRT study was stopped early.

These findings on the use of estrogen-progestin and estrogen-only HRT drugs were alarming, according to Dr. Adriane Fugh-Berman of Georgetown University Medical Center. In a more recent study* examining 340 medical journal articles written about HRT, she and her research team examined the admitted drug industry financial conflicts of interests disclosed by authors of HRT-friendly medical journal articles; it was published in March 2011 in the journal, Public Library of Science Medicine.

* Fugh-Berman A, McDonald CP, Bell AM, Bethards EC, Scialli AR (2011) Promotional Tone in Reviews of Menopausal Hormone Therapy After the Women’s Health Initiative: An Analysis of Published Articles. PLoS Med 8(3): e1000425. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1000425