The bubble has burst for estrogen and heart disease. Two studies involving thousands of women show that synthetic hormone replacement increases the risk of heart attack in postmenopausal women. Almost all of the women in both studies were taking Premarin, which casts further doubt on this best-selling drug. Coupled with its history of causing fatal blood clots and breast cancer , this new finding should be a wake-up call to women currently taking Premarin. Safer alternatives are readily available.
Heart disease is a serious problem.
It kills more women over the age of 60 than any other disease. At half a million deaths, it dwarfs breast cancer which will claim about 43,000 lives this year. Because the incidence of heart disease rises sharply in women after menopause , researchers have thought that female hormones are protective. They theorized that this protection could be extended with synthetic replacement. These ideas were strengthened when observational studies showed that women taking estrogen and progesterone had a lower rate of heart disease.