HERS results: summary

On the basis of the HERS results, the investigators concluded that a woman with CHD who is already on hormone-replacement therapy should not discontinue therapy, because hormone treatment reduced CHD risk at later time points during the study.  However, with the lack of overall CHD benefit combined with a trend toward increased CHD risk, the authors did not recommend initiating hormone-replacement therapy as secondary prevention in a woman not currently on therapy.

Reference:

Hulley S, Grady D, Bush T, Furberg C, Herrington D, Riggs B, Vittinghoff E, for the Heart and Estrogen/progestin Replacement Study (HERS) Research Group. Randomized trial of estrogen plus progestin for secondary prevention of coronary heart disease in postmenopausal women. JAMA 1998;280:605-613.