The Dichotomy of Estrogen
Hormone replacement therapy has attracted a lot of attention over the past few years. A combination of progestin and estrogen therapy was believed to reduce dementia and stroke, and other risks associated with aging such as heart attacks. A 2002 report on preliminary outcomes from the Women’s Health Initiative changed this belief (Fletcher and Colditz). This report included data from 16,000 post-menopausal women collected at various sites throughout the US. The authors concluded that hormone combination therapy increased the risk of heart attack, stroke, cancer, and blood clots and had numerous ramifications in the medical community. Estrogen therapy alone continued to be studied, but was also found to carry significant risks to health including increased risk of dementia and stroke (Anderson et al.). The biological mechanisms behind these finding are still unclear, however there is some evidence that estrogen has varying effects across the lifespan in females….