Women with the highest heart disease risk were the most likely to quit taking hormone therapy after it was shown to offer no protection against cardiovascular disease, a new analysis of national data shows.Dr. Angela Hsu and colleagues from Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City found that while 28 percent of women with heart disease were taking hormone replacement therapy in 1999-2000, just 8 percent were in 2003-2004. But for low-risk women, the decline was much smaller, from 20 percent to 17 percent over the same time period.During the early 1990s, Hsu and her team note, hormone therapy was touted as an effective way to reduce heart disease risk in postmenopausal women. But in 2002, researchers halted a huge study of hormone therapy called the Women?s Health Initiative after they found hormones actually boosted the risk of heart disease, stroke, and potentially fatal blood clots known as pulmonary embolisms.

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