Prior pre-eclampsia does not diminish the vascular protective effect of menopausal hormone therapy

Objective

Women with prior pre-eclampsia are at increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) may affect this risk. We evaluated the impact of MHT use on cardiovascular risk between women with and without prior pre-eclampsia.

Study design and main outcome measures

We assessed the occurrence of any CVD, myocardial infarction (MI) and stroke in MHT users (n = 9700) and non-users (n = 19,914) with prior pre-eclampsia, and likewise in MHT users (n = 27,764) and non-users (n = 58,248) without prior pre-eclampsia over the period 1994–2019. Follow-up started at MHT initiation (mean age 50.4 in pre-eclamptic women and 50.3 in non-pre-eclamptic women) and lasted for a mean of 13.3 years.

Results

The use of MHT in prior pre-eclamptic women was associated with significant risk reductions for any CVD (HR 0.85, 95 % CI 0.78–0.91), MI (HR 0.66, 95 % CI 0.55–0.78) and stroke events (HR 0.71, 95 % CI 0.63–0.81) in comparison with non-users with prior pre-eclampsia. The risk reductions for cardiovascular deaths were even more pronounced (HR 0.43, 95 % CI 0.31–0.59 for any CVD death; HR 0.49, 95 % CI 0.30–0.80 for MI death; HR 0.25, 95 % CI 0.10–0.64 for stroke death). However, none of these risk reductions differed from those seen in MHT users without prior pre-eclampsia. The risk of any CVD decreased already within five years of MHT use in women with prior pre-eclampsia but not in those without prior pre-eclampsia.

Conclusions

The use of MHT is associated with reduced CVD risk in women with prior pre-eclampsia. This is important to clinicians considering the initiation of MHT for recently menopausal women with prior pre-eclampsia.