Estrogens and atherosclerosis.

Abstract

Numerous epidemiological studies suggest that estrogens protect women against cardiovascular diseases before the age of menopause. After menopause, the cardiovascular risk of women becomes progressively closer to that of men, suggesting an atheroprotective effect of estrogens. However, the two controlled, prospective and randomized studies published so far did not demonstrate a beneficial effect of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) whether in secondary prevention, i.e., in women who had already presented a cardiovascular event (HERS study, Hulley et al. 1998) or in primary prevention (WHI study, Rossouw et al. 2002). Thus, a better understanding of these non-reproductive effects of estrogens is urgently needed to decide whether or not to treat postmenopausal women who are anxious to prevent bone and vascular pathologies associated with ageing but who also complain of functional manifestations like hot flashes or dyspareunia. Moreover, such studies could provide new information concerning the pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment of atherosclerosis, and also shed some light on autoimmune diseases, whose appearance and evolution is known to be influenced by estrogen hormones.KeywordsFatty StreakMature BandNumerous Epidemiological StudyAtheroprotective EffectFatty Streak FormationThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.