The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 269 No 7217 p428
28 September 2002

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Archives of Internal Medicine (archinte.ama-assn.org)

Combination HRT raises stroke risk

The risk of stroke among women taking combination hormone replacement therapy doubles after six months of therapy, researchers have found (Archives of Internal Medicine 2002;162:1954). They studied 726 cases of ischaemic and 213 cases of haemorrhagic stroke among post-menopausal women taking HRT, and 2,525 controls. The relative risk of having a stroke after six months of HRT was 2.16 for ischaemic and 2.20 for haemorrhagic stroke. In addition, the risk of ischaemic stroke increased with estrogen dose (P=0.03).