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Such women already may have been suffering the health effects of aging when they started HRT.

A study published last month in the Journal of Women's Health also found that women who started taking replacement drugs as they began menopause - which typically starts in the mid-40s and lasts through the mid-50s - had a 30 per cent lower risk of heart disease than women who did not take them.

"Both studies clearly show no increased risk of coronary heart disease with oestrogen-alone therapy," said Ginger Constantine, Wyeth's vice-president for women's health care.

"Wyeth continues to support the appropriate use of hormone therapy for its approved indications - the relief of moderate to severe menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes, night sweats and vaginal dryness and the prevention of post-menopausal osteoporosis," she said.

She said oestrogen or oestrogen-progestin "should not be used for the prevention or coronary heart disease" and Wyeth "recommends that therapy be taken at the lowest effective dose for the shortest duration." Joseph Sanfilippo, president of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, commenting on Monday's study, said, "Many women may find the results of the WHI trials confusing and contradictory, and to some extent they are.

"The earlier studies indicated that for older women (the therapy) did not p...

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