ABSTRACT
Each year in the United States, nearly half a million women die from heart attacks and stroke (National Center for Health Statistics, 1993; American Heart Association, 1992). Many more women survive these events but with significant morbidity. The risk of myocardial infarction and stroke increases after menopause, and the loss of endogenous estrogen likely contributes to this increased rate of cardiovascular events. Data supporting the concept that estrogen therapy prevents heart disease is derived largely from observational cohort studies (Grodstein, 1995; Stampfer, 1991a,b; Bush, 1987). These studies have shown that post-menopausal women using estrogen replacement had less overt heart disease than
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