and if so, does this modification result in a better outcome. |
For women who are documented to have heart disease, women who have angina, who have had a heart attack, who've had bypass surgery, who've had angioplasty, that hormone therapy not be started for the purpose of cardiac protection, and the reason for it is for the potential early risk. |
most of us who believe so strongly in prevention would want to see -- the fact that women who do very simple lifestyle interventions get benefits. |
The documented risks have essentially been an odyssey of discovery and much of this is fairly recent. |
The recommendations relate only to the use of hormones for cardiac protection. It does not relate to hormone use for other issues, |
The women were older, ... They had a lot more associated diseases. |
They were less likely, particularly early on, to be referred for the balloon procedure to open up the arteries or even for bypass surgery, |
Together with that was the women who were receiving hormone therapy had a greater occurrence of leg clots, deep vein leg thrombosis and a sizeable increase in gall bladder disease. So we began to see adverse effects and no benefit, and this really raised concern, |
We must change our perception of heart attack, ... For years, heart attack was thought of as a man's disease. Women get their heart attacks later, but the woman is vulnerable. |