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I think what the WHI study suggested is that women consider family history before using estrogen or progestin-estrogen therapy. While the initial results suggested increased heart risk inside the first two years of starting HRT, there were also some benefits reported such as decreased fracture risks and decreased colon cancer risk, if I remember correctly.
Lately, many of the findings have come under fire and I think we're going to see more follow-up studies.
Mainly, what the study did was to raise awareness that HRT has risks. For 30+ years docs were prescribing HRT like candy with no research backing. It was generally "assumed" that HRT was heart healthy.
WHI was one of the first studies to challenge that notion.
That said, many women swear by HRT and couldn't live without it as their symptoms are so bad. It just may not offer that "armor of protection" that many in the medical field tagged it with for a lot of years.