Jay M. Sullivan

The relationship among postmenopausal estrogen use, coronary stenosis, and survival was examined retrospectively in 2268 women undergoing coronary angiography. The patients were selected for study if their age was 55 years or older at the time of angiography or if they had previously undergone bilateral oophorectomy. Postmenopausal estrogen use in 1178 patients with coronary artery disease (greater than 70% stenosis) and 644 patients with mild to moderate coronary artery disease (5% to 69% stenosis) was compared with 446 control subjects (0% stenosis) using life-table analysis. Over 10 years of follow-up, there was no significant difference in survival among patients initially free of coronary lesions on arteriography who had either never used (377) or ever used (69) estrogens. Among patients with mild to moderate coronary stenosis, 10-year survival of those who had never used estrogens was 85.0% and it was 95.6% among 99 "ever users." Survival was 60.0% among those with more than 70% coronary stenosis who had never used estrogen and it was 97.0% among 70 ever users. The "never users" group were older (65 vs 59 years), had a lower proportion of cigarette smokers (40% vs 57.1%), a higher proportion of subjects with diabetes (21.7% vs 12.9%) and hyperlipidemia (58% vs 44%), and approximately equal numbers of hypertensives (56.0% vs 54.3%). Cox's proportional hazards model was used to estimate survival as a function of multiple covariables. Estrogen use was found to have a significant, independent effect on survival in women. We conclude that estrogen replacement after menopause prolongs survival when coronary artery disease is present, but it has less effect in the absence of coronary artery disease.

Continued experience with the use of dipyridamole as an antithrombotic agent confirmed earlier impressions of the clinical effectiveness of this agent. Dipyridamole (400 mg daily) or a placebo was given to 163 patients surviving prosthetic cardiac-valve replacement. All patients received anticoagulation with warfarin sodium. Eighty-four patients entered the placebo group. Within one year, 11.9 per cent died, 14.3 per cent suffered arterial emboli, and 9.5 per cent discontinued their medication because of possible side effects. The dipyridamole group contained 79 patients, of whom 13.9 per cent died; arterial emboli developed in 1.3 per cent and 15.2 per cent discontinued their medication. The frequency of embolization in the dipyridamole group was significantly lower than that in the placebo group. There was no significant difference between the death rates or between the drug discontinuation rates of the two groups.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To determine whether estrogen replacement therapy affects the prevalence of severely obstructive coronary arterial lesions defined by selective coronary arteriography. DESIGN: Case-control study. SETTING: Large, urban, university-affiliated referral hospital. PATIENTS: From a consecutive sample of 6452 women having coronary arteriography between 1972 and 1984, 2188 patients were eligible for study; others were excluded because they were nonmenopausal, had congenital heart defects, valvular heart disorders, primary myocardial disease, or no more than mild to moderate coronary artery disease. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Hospital nurses routinely obtained medication histories. Staff invasive cardiologists interpreted coronary arteriograms. Clinical, laboratory, and angiographic data were abstracted from the cardiac catheterization reports and entered into a computerized registry. Postmenopausal estrogen use for 1444 cases of coronary artery disease (70% stenosis) was compared to that 744 controls (0% stenosis). The odds ratio estimate of the risk of coronary artery disease for estrogen users relative to the risk of coronary artery disease for nonusers was 0.44 (95% confidence interval, 0.29 to 0.67) after adjustment for age, cigarette smoking, diabetes, cholesterol, and hypertension. Postmenopausal estrogen replacement was a significant independent protective factor for coronary artery disease in a multivariate logistic regression model (P = 0.037). CONCLUSION: The data suggest that postmenopausal estrogen treatment reduces the risk for angiographically significant coronary artery disease.