Estrogen may have a protective role in coronary heart disease in women aged 50-59 years.

Menopause Int 2008;14:40-45
doi:10.1258/mi.2007.007037
© 2008 British Menopause Society

British Menopause Society Council Consensus Statement

Primary prevention of coronary heart disease in women

Margaret Rees, John Stevenson on behalf of the British Menopause Society Council

Correspondence: Margaret Rees MA DPhil FRCOG, Reader in Reproductive Medicine, Honorary Consultant in Medical Gynaecology, Level 4, Women’s Centre, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK. Email: margaret.rees@obs-gyn.ox.ac.uk
The British Menopause Society Council is committed to provide up-to-date authoritative reviews to aid health professionals to inform and advise women about key issues in postreproductive health. Coronary heart disease (CHD) is a leading cause of death in women. Observational studies have consistently shown estrogen to help prevent CHD in postmenopausal women. The large randomized controlled Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) trial did not confirm these observational findings. However, further analyses of the WHI study as well as the observational Nurses’ Health Study have now found that the timing of onset of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) use is important and that estrogen may have a protective role in CHD in women aged 50–59 years. This consensus statement will examine the evidence regarding HRT and non-estrogen therapies (lipid lowering agents, aspirin, antihypertensives, antidiabetic medications, selective estrogen receptor modulators [SERMs]) as well as diet, lifestyle and smoking cessation in the primary prevention of CHD in women.

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