A comparison of continuous combined hormone replacement therapy, HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor and combined treatment for the management of hypercholesterolemia in postmenopausal women.

Abstract

To compare the lipid-altering effects of hormone replacement therapy alone and in combination with HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor in postmenopausal women with hypercholesterolemia. This was a prospective randomized controlled trial with 3 parallel groups. The patients (n = 35) were randomly assigned to receive pravastatin 20 mg/day (n = 12); continuous combined hormone replacement therapy (0.625 mg conjugated estrogen/day combined with medroxyprogesterone 5 mg/day) (n = 12); continuous combined hormone replacement therapy plus pravastatin (n = 11) for 16 weeks. Among patients treated with continuous combined hormone replacement therapy levels of total cholesterol (10.7%) and LDL cholesterol (12.6%) decreased significantly (p < 0.05), while levels of high density lipoprotein cholesterol (5%) and triglycerides (6.2%) increased insignificantly (p > 0.05). Patients in the pravastatin group achieved significant reductions of 18.8 and 21.4% in total cholesterol and low density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, respectively (p < 0.05). Among patients treated with a combination of continuous combined hormone replacement therapy plus pravastatin, levels of total cholesterol (20.5%) and low density lipoprotein cholesterol (23.8%) decreased the most, while levels of triglycerides (2.1%) decreased lower than the pravastatin-only group. The mean percentage of the differences between the baseline and treatment levels of the lipids and lipoproteins were not significant between the 3 study groups (p > 0.05). No significant difference between hormone replacement therapy alone and in combination with HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor in the treatment of postmenopausal women with hypercholesterolemia was noted in this study. The combination of hormone replacement therapy not only does not adversely affect the lipid-lowering effect of pravastatin alone, but hormone replacement therapy also offers additional benefits in the treatment of hypoestrogenic hypercholesterolemia in postmenopausal women.