Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) should not be used to prevent coronary heart disease, experts advise, after a study showed that it does not prevent the disease and almost doubles a woman's risk during the first year of use.

Furthermore, HRT does not slow progression of established coronary artery disease.

These findings come from two studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Dr JoAnn Manson and colleagues reported final results of the arm of the Women's Health Initiative trial that compared combined oestrogen and progestogen treatment with placebo (2003;349: 523-34). The trial, sponsored by the US National Institutes of Health, was stopped in 2002 because the risks of …