A prospective one-year study of estrogen and progestin in postmenopausal women: effects on clinical symptoms and lipoprotein lipids.

Ninety-five healthy women who had been amenorrheic for at least 6 months were randomly assigned to one of four cyclic, sequential hormone regimens for 1 year. Groups A and C received 0.625 or 1.25 mg conjugated equine estrogen (Premarin), respectively, from days 1-25 and 5 mg medroxyprogesterone acetate (Provera) from days 15-25. Groups B and D were given 0.625 or 1.25 mg conjugated equine estrogen, respectively, from days 1-25 and placebo from days 15-25. Plasma estrone levels were physiologic after the lower dose of conjugated equine estrogen and supraphysiologic after ingestion of the higher dose. All four treatment regimens successfully controlled hot flushes, but patients who received 1.25 mg conjugated equine estrogen with or without medroxyprogesterone acetate had a higher energy level and a more enhanced sense of well-being (P less than .05). The four treatments all had favorable effects on lipid metabolism, albeit in a dose-related manner: After 1 year of treatment, high-density lipoprotein levels increased 4.3, 13.7, 13.4, and 19% in groups A, B, C, and D, respectively, compared with pre-treatment values. The high-density lipoprotein/low-density lipoprotein ratios, an antiatherogenic index, increased by 7.3, 13.6, 24, and 43% in groups A, B, C, and D, respectively. The findings of this study on the relative effects of different doses of oral estrogen and progestin, administered sequentially, on clinical symptoms and lipid metabolism provide guidelines for the treatment of postmenopausal women.