In a study conducted in Denmark on the effects of estrogen-plus-progestin hormone pills for postmenopausal women, the findings show these prescription meds cause a 35 percent higher risk of a heart attack!
In the largest study of postmenopausal women since the Womens Health Initiative (WHI), this new six-year study examined more than 700,000 Danish women over the age of 50. The WHI studied about 27,000 U.S. women.
The Danish researchers tracked the records of women who were prescribed hormone replacement meds containing estrogen and progestin. The results show that those taking the combination pills increased their chances of a heart attack by 35 percent.
Whats more, women who took estrogen only, but just not in the pill combo form, showed no increase in heart attack risk.
Lead researcher Ellen L?kkegaard of the Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen, believes the findings support the use of alternative hormone replacement therapies for postmenopausal women.
Jacques Rossouw, a lead researcher on the WHI study, agreed and said, the only piece of good news, potentially, is [the findings] show a reduced risk in users of non-oral therapies, since hormone patches and gels do not seem to have the same effect on blood-clotting or inflammation as prescription pills.
The findings were published in the European Heart Journal.