Vascular Effects of Early versus Late Postmenopausal Treatment with Estradiol

Data suggest that estrogen-containing hormone therapy is associated with beneficial effects with regard to cardiovascular disease when the therapy is initiated temporally close to menopause but not when it is initiated later. However, the hypothesis that the cardiovascular effects of postmenopausal hormone therapy vary with the timing of therapy initiation (the hormone-timing hypothesis) has not been tested.

A total of 643 healthy postmenopausal women were stratified according to time since menopause (