Does hormone replacement therapy impact the risk of developing cardiovascular disease?

Does hormone replacement therapy impact the risk of cardiovascular disease? So hormone replacement therapy or HRT can be very effective for relieving symptoms of the menopause and we are aware that some women avoid taking it because they worry that it might increase their risk of certain health conditions. One of those conditions is the form of a blood clot such as a deep vein thrombosis in the lower leg or a blood clot in the lung called a pulmonary embolism. This risk is slightly higher in patients who take HRT but it can be reduced significantly by having HRT through the skin such as a patch or a gel and each of these sort of options and the individual risk to you should be discussed individually with your GP as there's not one size that fits all with this. Apart from deep vein thrombosis or blood clots in the lungs, recent evidence has shown that menopausal women taking HRT do not have a higher risk of dying from a heart attack than those who don't take HRT. So in terms of cardiovascular disease that we've discussed today, there's no evidence that it impacts the development of cardiovascular disease.