Questioning widespread medical [1] practices, a new study says hormone-replacement therapy failed to slow heart [2] disease in older women. In the findings, reported at the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology, 309 older women with heart [2] disease took estrogen, an estrogen-progestin combination or a placebo. The study, financed by the National Institutes of Health, used a test that injects dye into the arteries to measure narrowing in the heart's arteries caused by a buildup of cholesterol [3]. The measurements showed no difference in the disease's progression among those who had hormone-replacement therapy (HRT) and those who didn't.

The mean age of the women in the study was 65.8 years, and almost half of the women were heart [2] attack survivors. The new study is the second to question the widely held belief that HRT is an effective treatment for heart [2] disease. In 1998, a study found that 2,763 women who took estrogen and a progestin for four years had just as many heart [2] attacks as women who didn't take the treatment.

Neither study showed "evidence of benefit in women with established heart [2] disease," said David Herrington, of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. But Herrington, an associate professor of cardiology who presented the findings, said the results don't necessarily apply to younger, healthier women. Further study is needed to determine HRT's effects on younger women, he said.

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