Results from last year's Women's Health Initiative study on the benefits of combination hormone replacement therapy indicate that HRT is associated with an increased risk of stroke, even in the first year of use. In the trial, which was halted in 2002 after researchers determined estrogen plus progestin therapy was linked to an increased risk of breast cancer, 8,500 postmenopausal women, age 50 to 79, were prescribed a combination of estrogen and progestin while 8,100 women were given a placebo.

At last week's American Stroke Association's 28th International Stroke Conference, physicians revealed data showing that a woman's stroke risk increased in each year of the 5-year study: by 53 percent in year one of therapy, by 47 percent in year two, by 42 percent in year three, by 37 percent in year four and by 32 percent in year five.

Overall, there were 120 strokes in the group receiving combination hormone therapy, compared to 80 strokes in the placebo group. Researchers announced that stroke risk increased for women with and without heart disease or high blood pressure.