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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 15, 1993                   TAG: 9304150077
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BOSTON                                LENGTH: Short

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STUDY BACKS HORMONE MIX

Taking pills that combine estrogen and progestin appears be a highly effective way of protecting women's hearts while easing them through menopause, a new study finds.

Doctors have long known that estrogen alone cuts the risk of heart attack about in half. But that treatment can raise the risk of uterine cancer.

To eliminate that cancer hazard, doctors often combine estrogen with another hormone, progestin. Many worried, however, that putting progestin into the mix would wipe away the therapy's good effects on the heart.

A new study, published in today's New England Journal of Medicine, concludes that estrogen plus progestin is just as good for the heart as estrogen alone.

"These data are reassuring," said Dr. Aaron R. Folsom, a co-author of the study at the University of Minnesota.

In fact, his work raises the possibility that the combination of hormones might be even be better, because it could further reduce the chance of dangerous blood clots. However, a generally supportive editorial in the journal said that idea was speculative.

"It would be premature to conclude that women taking combined estrogen and progestin have an even lower risk of coronary disease than those taking estrogen alone," wrote Drs. Kathryn A. Martin and Mason W. Freeman of Massachusetts General Hospital.

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