Postmenopausal Estrogen Use and Heart Disease

Abstract

To the Editor: Findings from our recently completed study of mortality and hospitalization for cardiovascular disease in postmenopausal estrogen users, based on information from the Walnut Creek Contraceptive Drug Study, may shed light on the reason for the contradictory results of other studies of the relation between cardiovascular disease and postmenopausal estrogen use.^{1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15} The Walnut Creek Contraceptive Drug Study has been described in detail elsewhere.¹⁶ Briefly, 16,638 women between the ages of 18 and 54 were recruited to the study in the late 1960s and early 1970s and provided information on their use of oral contraceptives and other sex-steroid hormones . . .