Clarkson and his colleagues presented their findings at AHA's 38th Annual Conference of Cardiovascular Disease, Epidemiology and Prevention. Clarkson noted that several recent studies done elsewhere had reached differing conclusions regarding the benefits of hormone replacement therapy in preventing stroke.
Stroke ranks third as a cause of death for middle-aged and older women.
He said that one review of seven studies of stroke deaths among postmenopausal users of estrogen replacement therapy found a reduction of risk ranging between 20 and 60 percent compared to women who were not using estrogen replacement therapy. But an English study found no benefit and a third hinted that estrogen replacement therapy might actually be making strokes more severe. The study was part of an overall program project which is looking at the potential benefits of soy phytoestrogens as a postmenopausal therapy. The program project is financed by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. The results showed that both forms of estrogen replacement therapy cut internal carotid artery atherosclerosis by more than half, compared to postmenopausal monkeys who did not receive estrogens.