RELATION BETWEEN HORMONE REPLACEMENT THERAPY IN WOMEN AND CORONARY-ARTERY DISEASE ESTIMATED BY ELECTRON-BEAM TOMOGRAPHY

Many studies have suggested that hormone replacement therapy reduces t he risk of coronary heart disease. Electron beam tomography is a highl y sensitive noninvasive method by which to detect coronary artery dise ase. Our objective was to investigate whether hormone replacement ther apy had an effect on coronary artery disease as determined by electron beam tomography in postmenopausal women. Nine hundred fourteen self-r eferred postmenopausal women older than 50 years underwent electron be am tomography Each woman completed a questionnaire regarding age, risk factors, menopausal status, and hormone replacement therapy. Women ta king hormone replacement therapy were slightly younger (57.8 years) th an those not (60.7 years). A significantly higher incidence of a famil y history of myocardial infarction and smoking history was found in th e group taking hormone replacement therapy, whereas more diabetics wer e in the group not taking hormone replacement therapy. The mean total coronary artery scores for women receiving hormone replacement therapy and not receiving hormone replacement therapy were 54.2 and 86.2, res pectively (p = 0.02). Independent predictive variables of a positive c oronary artery calcium score with multiple logistic regression analysi s were age, hypercholesterolemia, diabetes, and estrogen use. These re sults suggest that hormone replacement therapy is associated with less coronary artery disease in postmenopausal women as determined by elec tron beam tomography.