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

DATE: FRIDAY, March 10, 1995                   TAG: 9503100076
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SAN ANTONIO                                LENGTH: Short

ESTROGEN USE LOWERS RISK OF HEART DEATHS

Most of the benefits lingered even in women no longer taking estrogen, who still had a 20 percent reduction in heart disease deaths.

The study adds to a growing body of evidence that the drug can be critically important in reducing women's deaths from heart disease.

In November, a $20 million government study found that estrogen cut the risk of heart disease by 25 percent in women ages 45 to 64.

The new study showed that estrogen use is linked to a drop in deaths in women ages 65 to 74. The study did not find any benefits in women 75 or over, or in women who took the drug for less than 10 years, said Jane A. Cauley, an epidemiologist at the University of Pittsburgh. She reported the findings at the American Heart Association's annual epidemiology meeting.

Cauley studied 9,704 white women 65 and older, of whom 1,331, or 14 percent, reported taking estrogen for an average of about 15 years. Eleven percent took estrogen alone; 3 percent took estrogen with progesterone. The women were followed for an average of six years.

The study was based on an analysis of death certificates for the 908 deaths that occurred during the course of the study, Cauley said.

Dr. JoAnn Manson, an epidemiologist at Harvard Medical School, said the study is important because it is one of only a few to look at death rates, rather than heart disease risk factors.