Does combined continuous ethinyl estradiol/norethindrone acetate improve forearm blood flow in postmenopausal women at risk for cardiovascular events : a pilot study?
In this older postmenopausal population with at least one cardiovascular risk factor, treatment with combined continuous ethinyl estradiol and norethindrone acetate failed to improve vascular endothelial function. The agent's proinflammatory effect or subclinical atherosclerosis in this population may have contributed to this finding.
Our findings, combined with previous laboratory and epidemiologic findings, suggest that estrogen may have an age-dependent neuroprotective effect.