|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
By Emma Patten-Hitt
NEW YORK, Mar 07 (Reuters Health) - Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) may help some postmenopausal women avoid the suffocating chest pain of angina, according to results of a study.
After menopause, there is a decrease in women's estrogen levels. Estrogen supplements seem to improve the function of the lining of arteries, in turn preventing spasms in the vessels that supply blood to the heart, researchers explain. These spasms cause various forms of heart disease including "variant" angina.
Dr. Hiroaki Kawano and colleagues from Kumamoto University School of Medicine in Japan gave 15 postmenopausal women who suffered from variant angina an estrogen patch for 2 days, followed by an inactive placebo patch.
On the first, third and fifth days of the study, researchers asked women to hyperventilate for 6 minutes, a maneuver designed to trigger an anginal attack. The investigators found that angina was triggered on days one and five, but not day three--after 2 days of wearing the patch.
Hormone replacement therapy helps women control symptoms of menopause, such as hot flashes. It can help prevent the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis, and has been shown to protect the heart. According to Dr. Joseph V. Messer from the American College of Cardiology, the latest findings suggest another benefit.
"This is another way in which HRT may benefit the arteries of the heart," Messer told Reuters Health. "These findings tend to tip the scale toward using HRT in postmenopausal women, so long as there are no reasons not to use HRT, such as a personal history or family history of breast cancer," he said. The hormones in HRT may increase some women's risk for the cancer.
"We have known for some time that HRT has some beneficial effect," Messer said. "The effects of these agents in dilating blood vessels (and preventing spasms of the blood vessels) has been known, so we were not surprised but pleased that additional information has been found," he added.
Messer also pointed out that women with variant angina represent a relatively small subgroup of the total population of women with angina, "so it will be necessary to repeat these studies in women who have other types of angina."
SOURCE: Journal of the American College of Cardiology 2001;37:735-740.
| Health Topics | Drug Information | Dictionaries | Directories | Other Resources |
|
U.S. National Library of Medicine, 8600 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20894
Copyright and Privacy Policy, We welcome your comments. Last updated: 08 March 2001 |