The effect of estradiol valerate and dienogest combination on serum homocysteine levels in postmenopausal women: A clinical trial

Abstract

Several studies have verified that hormone replacement therapy (HRT) has protective effects on postmenopausal women's cardiovascular condition. However, highly significant recent studies have reported that women treated with HRT have more cardiovascular events than untreated women. An elevated homocysteine level is one important risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD). As a good indicator of CVD risk, we examined the changes in plasma homocysteine levels of postmenopausal women treated with HRT. In our study, we administered estradiol valerate (2 mg) and dionegest (2 mg) to 34 postmenopausal women recruited randomly from our menopause clinic, and measured plasma homocysteine levels of patients at baseline and after 3 and 6 months of therapy. The changes in plasma homocysteine levels of treated patients were not statistically significant (p = 0.241). Our results indicate that 6 months of estradiol valerate and dionegest therapy does not change homocysteine levels in postmenopausal women.