News: Lipid prifile tied to heart risk with HT

Lipid profiles have predictive value in determining the risk of coronary heart disease events in postmenopausal women taking hormone therapy, according to an article published in the June issue of the American Journal of Cardiology.

Paul F. Bray, MD, of Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, and colleagues conducted a nested case–control analysis of data from two Women's Health Initiative trials, which randomized postmenopausal women to receive hormone therapy with conjugated equine estrogen (CEE) alone, or CEE plus medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA), or placebo. The researchers compared baseline lipids and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) levels from 271 patients with incident coronary heart disease and 707 controls, in order to investigate whether these biomarkers predicted coronary heart disease events.

The researchers found that favorable lipid levels at baseline were associated with better coronary heart disease outcomes among those taking CEE with or without MPA. Women with a low-density lipoprotein (LDL)/high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol ratio of 2.5 or greater had an increased risk of coronary heart disease (odds ratio 1.73). The investigators report that hs-CRP levels added little or no additional predictive value beyond the LDL/HDL cholesterol ratio.

Bray PF, Larson JC, Lacroix AZ, et al. Usefulness of baseline lipids and C-reactive protein in women receiving menopausal hormone therapy as predictors of treatment-related coronary events. Am J Cardiol. 2008;101:1599-1605.