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(Circulation. 2002;105:e9115.)
© 2002 American Heart Association, Inc.

Cardiovascular News

Ruth SoRelle, MPH

Circulation Newswriter

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

Statin Use Reduces Risk for Women With Cardiovascular Disease in HERS

The Heart and Estrogen/Progestin Replacement Study (HERS) shocked many in the gynecological and cardiology realm when it demonstrated that there was no cardiovascular advantage associated with the use of hormone replacement therapy in postmenopausal women with heart disease. In fact, early analysis of data from >2700 women demonstrated that there might even be a significant early risk with hormone replacement therapy.

In this week’s issue of Circulation (Circulation. 2002;105:2962–2967), researchers analyzed data from the HERS study in terms of statin use. Led by David M. Herrington, MD, MHS, of the Department of Internal Medicine/Cardiology at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, NC, the researchers found that when statin users were compared with subjects who did not take statins, those who took the cholesterol-lowering medications had lower rates of cardiovascular and venous thromboembolic events and total mortality.

In addition, although hormone replacement therapy resulted in a significant increase in early risk for primary events in those who do not use statins, there are no early risks for those who did use the statins. The researchers concluded, "Despite the potent effects of statins on risk for clinical events, differential use of statins among the two arms does not appear to explain the overall null effect of hormone replacement therapy in HERS. A suggestion that statins attenuate the early increased risk for cardiovascular events associated with HRT requires further confirmation." All in all, they conclude, there is strong evidence that women with coronary disease would benefit from statin use.

Sounding Out the Genes
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