Risk of Breast Cancer From Hrt is Slight

THOUSANDS of women may have needlessly abandoned hormone replacement therapy, according to research published today.

The Million Women Study, published in 2003, said women using HRT in order to combat the menopause were twice as likely to develop breast cancer as women not using it.

But research carried out in Australia

has shown that the increased

risk is, in fact, only very slight.

Researchers at the New South Wales Breast Cancer Institute found that the use of oestrogenonly HRT or short-term use of combined oestrogen-progestogen HRT by women over 50 hardly affected their risk of developing breast cancer.

Even using oestrogen-only HRT for 15 years increased the risk by only a tiny amount. However, the researchers also discovered that women using combined HRT were more likely to develop the cancer, especially if they had treatment for more than five years.

A typical woman of 55 who had been using combined therapy for 15 years had a one-in-12 chance of developing breast cancer compared to one-in-19 chance for a woman of the same age who had not taken it.

The team also found that once a woman stops taking HRT her risk of developing breast cancer quickly returns to that of a same-age woman who has never used it.

Writing in the British Medical Journal today, the researchers said the risk to women was lower than had been thought and many women may have stopped using HRT unnecessarily.

Karen Winterhalter, executive director of Women’s Health Concern, said women should be reassured by the research and attacked the government for not updating its advice on HRT.

She said: “These findings reiterate what we have been saying about the Million Women Study that the figures were grossly overstated and thousands of women came off HRT needlessly.”

Yet, she said, the government’s committee on the safety of medicine was still using the 2003 research findings when issuing advice to women.

Professor Peter Sasieni, an epidemiologist at Cancer Research UK, said: “The risks involved with HRT and cancer are very complicated.

“This paper further clarifies that the increase in risk of taking HRT is actually relatively small and needs to be balanced against the benefits of taking it.”

Emma Taggart, policy and campaigns director for Breakthrough Breast Cancer, said: “This study reflects our current knowledge on HRT and breast cancer risk.

“Although the use of combined HRT increases a woman’s risk of breast cancer, short-term use of it is likely to have only a small effect.

“The decision to start, stop or change the type of HRT needs to be an informed choice, based on the risks and benefits to each woman, made with the help of her doctor.”