Hormone replacement therapy to improve left ventricular diastolic functions in healthy postmenopausal women

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the effects of estrogen and estrogen plus progesterone replacement therapy on left ventricular systolic and diastolic function parameters in healthy postmenopausal women. METHODS: Forty-six healthy consecutive postmenopausal women were prospectively enrolled. Hormone replacement therapy (HRT), which was either 0.625 mg/day conjugated equine estrogen (CEE) alone, or with 2.5 mg/day medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) was administered depending on the hysterectomy status. Left ventricular systolic and diastolic function parameters were evaluated with echocardiography before and after 6 months of HRT. The paired t-test was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Estrogen or estrogen plus progesterone did not significantly alter the left ventricular dimensions and systolic function parameters. However, significant improvements were noted in several diastolic function parameters including late diastolic mitral flow velocity, ratio of early to late mitral flow velocity and isovolumic relaxation time (P=0.003, P=0.001 and P=0.005, respectively, for the CEE group; all P<0.001 for the CEE+MPA group). CONCLUSIONS: Estrogen or estrogen plus progesterone replacement therapy may significantly improve left ventricular diastolic functions in healthy postmenopausal women.