HRT can double the risk of breast cancer

[Mandinka2]

THought about throwin this up on the female board but then said screw it , most folks here are guys with gfs/wives:

http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9&si=1025054&issue_id=9615

HRT can double the risk of breast cancer


WOMEN were warned yesterday that hormone replacement therapy can cause breast cancer.

New research shows that the risk of developing the cancer is doubled for women taking combined therapy, which contains the hormones oestrogen and progestogen.

But all forms of the therapy increase the risk and the longer it is taken the greater the risk, scientists said.

Women taking oestrogen-only HRT increase their risk by 30pc, the research found. It was conducted on more than a million women in Britain - the biggest study of its kind and it found HRT is responsible for 2,000 cases of breast cancer a year in Britain where a total of 1.5m women take HRT.

The study, by the Medical Research Council and Cancer Research UK, found that for every 1,000 post-menopausal women who had taken HRT for 10 years, those on oestrogen-only HRT developed an extra five breast cancers. Post-menopausal women using combined oestrogen-progestogen treatment for 10 years were at three times greater risk, developing an extra 19 cases of breast cancer.

Previous research in America estimated that HRT would cause only one extra case per 1,000 women.

The new study also shows that the adverse effect of HRT can be seen sooner than scientists had first thought, with the increased risk of breast cancer starting after a year.

The results, published in The Lancet, the British medical journal, pose a huge dilemma for women and for doctors in balancing the benefits of HRT against the cancer risk.

The British government's medical watchdog, the Committee on the Safety of Medicines, issued urgent advice last night telling all GPs to discuss the findings of the study with patients. Thousands of women are expected to abandon the therapy, once hailed as a miracle answer to the menopause.

Dr John Toy, medical director of Cancer Research UK, which funded the study, said: "A woman wanting to take HRT for a long time would be wise to consider carefully the findings of this large study and other relevant research." But he said the new results did not create an "emergency situation".

In a commentary published alongside the study, Professor Chris van Weel, of the Department of General Practice and Social Medicine, at the University of Nijmegen in the Netherlands, said women should stop HRT altogether.

"The problem is in those women who are already, often for a long time, taking HRT," he said. "This group should discontinue HRT use as soon as possible. Discontinuing HRT should be suggested in as supportive a way as possible."

Professor Valerie Beral, Director of the Cancer Research UK Epidemiology Unit, said that women should weigh up the risks carefully. "Combined oestrogen-progestagen HRT is usually prescribed for women who still have a uterus, to avoid the increased risk of cancer of the uterus caused by oestrogenonly therapy," she said.

"Since our results show a substantially greater increase in breast cancer with combined HRT, women need to weigh the increased risk of breast cancer caused by the addition of progestagen against the lowered risk of uterine cancer."

A spokeswoman for Women's Health Concern, a British helpline which advises women on the menopause, said: "We are worried this is going to cause a panic. Our advice would be to go to see your GP. You have to weigh up these risks against the benefits from HRT.

"The findings mean that it is even more important that each decision to start HRT is made on an individual basis, and is reassessed at least annually."

Celia Hall
in London

 

[Mandinka2]

Same story , different source (BBC) -some steroid related info

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3132495.stm
HRT 'doubles breast cancer risk'


Breast cancer could be more deadly after HRT
Taking certain types of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) can double the risk of developing breast cancer, says a study of more than a million women.
The largest ever study into the link between HRT and breast cancer was conducted by scientists at Cancer Research UK's Epidemiology Unit in Oxford.

The research suggests the single pill moderately increases the risk of breast cancer, but the combined pill doubles the risk.

It estimates HRT, taken by women to relieve the unpleasant symptoms of menopause, may have been responsible for an extra 20,000 cases of the disease in Britain in the last decade.

The Committee on the Safety of Medicines has reviewed the data and written to all health professionals.

They stressed short-term HRT use is still beneficial, but those taking it for more than a year should heed the risks and discuss them with their GP.

If women are put on HRT, they should be screened for breast cancer every year as a matter of course

Barbara Sims
Cancer sufferer


'I got breast cancer after HRT'
Barbara Sims took the combined HRT for six years before being diagnosed with breast cancer.

But she said she had no regrets because it rescued her from an early menopause and may have helped the detection of the cancer.

"Because my symptoms were so debilitating I couldn't lead a normal life at all," she said.

About 1.5million women in the UK take HRT, with half taking the combined version.

The researchers estimate there have been 20,000 cases of breast cancer over the last decade in women aged 50 to 64 because of HRT.

Steroid risk

They say combined HRT is responsible for 15,000 of those cases.

What is HRT?
In late middle age, a woman has reduced levels of some sex hormones.
This causes unpleasant symptoms such as hot flushes, mood swings, loss of libido.
HRT aims to boost hormone levels to reduce these symptoms.
The study is also the first to report that HRT increases the risk of dying from breast cancer, by 22%.

About 20 women in every 1,000 will usually develop breast cancer.

But the study found for every 1,000 women who use HRT for 10 years from the age of 50, there will be an additional 19 cases of cancer in those using the combined oestrogen and progestogen version and an extra five in those using oestrogen-only HRT.

It would be sensible for a woman to take HRT for only as long as it is necessary to deal with her medical problems

Dr John Toy
Cancer Research UK
Using tibolone, a steroid treatment, also increased a woman's cancer risk.

Women also have to bear in mind that oestrogen-only HRT carries an increased risk of uterine cancer.

Women's risk of developing breast cancer decreases when she stops and is back to normal levels after five years, claims the research.

The data, published in The Lancet, covered a million women who went for mammograms between 1996 and 2001.

Professor Valerie Beral, who led the research, said: "Since our results show a substantially greater increase in breast cancer with combined HRT, women need to weigh the increased risk of breast cancer caused by the addition of progestogen against the lowered risk of uterine cancer."

Dr John Toy, Medical Director of Cancer Research UK, said: "It would be sensible for a woman to take HRT for only as long as it is necessary to deal with her medical problems as advised by her doctor.

"A woman wanting to take HRT for a long time would be extremely wise first to consider carefully the findings of this large study and other relevant research."