New research by British charity Cancer Research UK has shown that using combined hormone replacement therapy (HRT) can double a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer. Estrogen-only HRT is known to significantly increase the risk of developing breast cancer, however the new study suggest that the risks associated with combined HRT may be even higher. The study of more than one million women aged between 50 and 64 showed that combined HRT caused four times as many extra breast cancers as estrogen-only HRT, and that overall users of estrogen-only and combined HRT were 22% more likely to die from breast cancer than women who had never taken it. The study also showed that the longer a woman takes HRT the higher her risk of breast cancer is, although once treatment is stopped the risk quickly recedes. The study is just one of many recent studies highlighting the risks associated with HRT, other studies have shown that women who took the treatment for five years had a higher risk of breast cancer, stroke, and blood clots in the lung. Furthermore, two recent studies have revealed that HRT does not lower the risk of heart disease, and that it may actually raise the rise of heart attack.
SOURCE/REFERENCE: Reported by www.reutershealth.com on the 8th August 2003.
