Challenging a medical doctrine that has stood for two decades, a study found no evidence that estrogen supplements protect older women from heart disease. The findings are likely to confuse doctors and patients alike about the already complicated decision of whether to take estrogen for many years after menopause. Estrogen has both benefits and risks, including an increased chance of breast cancer. The latest research, released Monday, is the second major study to question the doctrine that hormone replacement is a powerful way to ward off heart disease, the leading killer of older women. That belief has been a centerpiece of women’s health care since the 1980s and has helped make the estrogen pill Premarin the most widely prescribed medicine in the United States. Many doctors think estrogen helps the heart largely because it seems to improve cholesterol levels after women go through menopause.
