[Cardiovascular disease and hormone therapy. Current status of the controversy]

The cardiovascular effects of female sex steroids have many faces and are very complex. To make this situation even more complicated different therapeutic regimens, types, dosages or routes of administration may exhibit different effects of estrogens and progestines in postmenopausal women. Furthermore, the interpretation of population studies may be problematic by itself, in view of so many confounders and biases involved and methodological flaws that sometimes are discovered only post-hoc. It seems therefore, that in such a complicated situation making definite conclusions and guidelines is almost an impossible task. Our suggestion to clinicians is to try and follow the main stream of clinical data, looking at the general picture rather than the small details, and try to individualize therapy in order to maximize the benefits and minimize the adverse reactions and risks. This article discusses the current knowledge on hormone replacement therapy and the cardiovascular system. It is not an overview since data are vast, but in the post-WHI era this chapter presents current ideas and trends in this field to be used by people who practice menopause medicine for their own clinical decisions.