About 10 years ago, when Gerrye Boggs was just beginning menopause, she joined the women's health initiative study and  started on hormone replacement therapy.

"We all thought that there was a benefit to taking the hormone was that it would protect our heart," she said.

Just the opposite occurred. But researchers continued to study the data to see if some women could take hormone therapy without increasing their risk of heart disease. This week's journal of the American Medical Association says yes.

"These findings are somewhat reassuring to younger women who want to use hormone therapy for relief of severe hot flashes and night sweats because of no increased risk of coronary heart disease and a trend toward a reduced risk of total mortality," said Dr. Jacques Rossouw of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

However, older women who still have symptoms 10 years after menopause are at the greatest risk of heart disease, even without HRT.

"There is something about hot flashes and night sweats at an older age which are linked to higher risk and this risk is then further increased if those women take hormone therapy," said Dr. Rossouw.

But in the early stages of menopause, the study has good news, particularly if women take estrogen only, not estrogen plus progestin.

"We found that estrogen plus progestin is worse for your heart health than estrogen only. For stroke, it didn't matter. Both estrogen plus progestin and estrogen only increased the risk of stroke," said Dr. Rossouw.

The combination pill also carries a higher risk of breast cancer.

Estrogen alone should not be taken by women who still have a uterus because of an increased risk of uterine cancer.