Cardiovascular Disorders, Breast Cancer and Probable Dementia for Estrogen Plus Progestin Therapy

• Estrogens plus progestin therapy should not be used for the prevention of cardiovascular disease or dementia.
• The Women's Health Initiative (WHI) estrogen plus progestin substudy reported increased risks of  stroke, deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary emboli, and myocardial infarction in postmenopausal women (50 to 79 years of age) during 5.6 years of treatment with daily oral conjugated estrogens (CE 0.625 mg) combined with medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA 2.5 mg), relative to placebo.
• The WHI estrogen plus progestin substudy also demonstrated an increased risk of invasive breast cancer.
• The Women's Health Initiative Memory Study  estrogen plus progestin (WHIMS), an  ancillary study of WHI, reported increased risk of developing probable dementia in postmenopausal women 65 years of age or older during 4 years of treatment with daily CE 0.625 mg  combined with medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA 2.5 mg), relative to placebo. It is unknown whether this finding applies to younger postmenopausal women.