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Aims The use of oestrogen containing hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is related to a significantly reduced atherosclerotic cardiovascular risk in postmenopausal women. Oestrogen is thought to be antioxidant and may inhibit low-density lipoprotein (LDL) oxidation in vitro. We investigated the effect of combined oestrogen and progestogen HRT on LDL oxidation in postmenopausal women. Methods Eighteen healthy women were given oestrogen/progestogen, and the susceptibility of LDL to oxidation was measured as the level of autoantibody to oxidative modified LDL and the production of conjugated dienes during copperdependent oxidation after 3 and 6 months HRT. The levels of vitamin E, the major antioxidant in LDL, were also measured. Results After HRT, the anti-oxidatively modified LDL antibody level remained unchanged [1.58±0.16, 0.10 (−0.10, 0.26), and 0.08 (−0.09, 0.19), mean±s.d. at baseline, and mean change with 95% confidence intervals for differences at 3 and 6 months, respectively, P >0.05] as did the production of conjugated dienes when determined as lag phase [51.2±7.

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