Angela Hsu ^1*, Andrea Card ², Susan Xiaoqin Lin ³, Sean Mota ², Olveen Carrasquillo ², Andrew Moran ²

¹ Columbia University Department of Medicine
² Columbia University Division of General Internal Medicine
³ Columbia University Center for Family Medicine

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: angela.hsu{at}ucsf.edu.

	Abstract

After randomized trials failed to support the use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for preventing cardiovascular disease (CVD), HRT use for postmenopausal women declined. Our analysis of 1999–2000 and 2003–2004 National Health and Nutrition Surveys (NHANES) shows that HRT use decreased 19% (from 27.6 to 8.4%; P<.001) among women with CVD versus 3% (from 19.8 to 16.8%; P=.68) among low-risk women, suggesting that most of the drop in HRT use may be among women prescribed HRT as an unproven treatment to prevent CVD.

Key Words: Cardiovascular Disease, Women's Health