New study finds adverse effects of estrogen replacement therapy are related t...( SAN DIEGO CA Recent clinical trials...),Health

SAN DIEGO, CA Recent clinical trials indicate that estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) may increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases. A new study in mice has examined whether adverse effects of ERT are related to the doses used. The study found that moderate and high doses of ERT increased problems in the kidney and heart. These results suggest that ERT dosage may be an important determinant in a womans overall health.

The study, Dose-Response Effect of Estrogen on the Kidney and Heart, was conducted by Xiaomei Meng, Martin Antonio DAmbrosio, Tang-Dong Liao and Xiao-Ping Yang. The researchers are members of the Hypertension and Vascular Research Division of Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, MI. Dr. Yang is presenting her teams findings during the 121st Annual Meeting of the American Physiological Society (APS; www.the-APS.org/press/), part of the Experimental Biology 2008 scientific conference

The frequency of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and the deaths that are associated with it are much lower in premenopausal women than in men of similar age. This female gender advantage becomes far less or disappears with increased age and reduced estrogen levels after menopause, suggesting that ovarian hormones, most likely estrogen, protect women against CVD.

Studies have show that postmenopausal women who receive hormonal replacement therapy (HRT) have a lower incidence of CVD and die less frequently than those not receiving HRT. As a result, HRT has commonly been used for prevention of CVD in postmenopausal women. However, recently published data by the Heart and Estrogen/Progestin Replacement Study (HERS) and the Womens Health Initiative (WHI) showed an unfavorable effect of HRT on the risk and events of CVD in women. But while the data were convincing, there are other considerations such as composition of the drugs, dosage, time when HRT was initiated, age, and pre-ex
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