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Women with intact wombs generally do not take estrogen alone because it increases the risk of uterine cancer.

The estrogen-and-progestin trial was halted in 2002, when the WHI researchers found that hormones caused a few extra heart attacks, strokes and breast cancers (although they prevented some hip fractures and colon cancers).

The estrogen-only trial was stopped two years later when researchers discovered that women taking Premarin (though not those in their 50s) had a slightly higher risk of stroke.

There was no difference in their risk of heart disease, and their breast cancer risk was actually lower.

Many researchers have questioned whether the findings of the WHI are applicable to the majority of menopausal women.

The average age of menopause is 51.

The average woman in the WHI was 63 years old and 12 years past menopause.

Monday's findings help explain the discrepancy between the WHI and the many previous studies that found hormone therapy good for the heart.

"Earlier studies involved mostly women who started hormone therapy within two or three years of menopause," said Manson.

"The randomized controlled trials [which are considered the gold standard for medical research] were done mostly in women in their 60s and 70s who were more than a decade past menopause." Ma...

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