The American journal of the medical sciences
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Observational studies have found that estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) reduces the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) in postmenopausal women. To determine the frequency of current use of ERT in an economically and racially diverse group of women at high risk for CHD, we examined the medical records of 393 women older than 40 who were admitted to the University of South Alabama Medical Center with symptoms suggestive of angina. ⋯ Compared with the reported utilization of ERT in middle-class European American women, ERT is underutilized in this economically diverse group of women at high risk for coronary heart disease. In our population, European American women were twice as likely to be receiving ERT as African American women.