New cancer link to HRT

Breast cancer could be linked to hormone replacement therapy (HRT), authors of a study of nearly 29,000 women have claimed.

Long-term use of oestrogen in HRT treatments could lead to a higher risk of breast cancer in women who have had a hysterectomy, according to a 30-year study by the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) of the US.

“In conclusion, we found that oestrogen therapy was associated with an increased risk of breast cancer with longer-term use,” wrote the authors in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

“Although current use of oestrogen therapy for less than ten years was not associated with a statistically significant increase in breast cancer risk, the WHI has shown an increased risk of stroke and deep-vein thrombosis in the same time period.

HRT treatments typically involve boosting hormones such as oestrogen along with progesterone or progestins and sometimes even testosterone.

However, the new study claims that women who had HRT treatment for over a decade had a higher risk of breast cancer, while for those taking it for 20 years it was “significant”.

Association was said to be strongest for cancers that were oestrogen receptor positive and progesterone receptor positive.

Dr Wendy Chen, one of the study’s authors, said that women taking oestrogen therapy for osteoporosis, which requires long bouts of HRT, should consider other options, but this was criticised.

Emma Taggart, UK charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer’s director of policy and campaigns, said that women should not stop taking HRT because of the findings as other studies had already shown the risk of breast cancer after ten years of HRT.

With three quarters of the women in the study who developed breast cancer having had oestrogen treatment, this new study claims that the long term use of HRT should be avoided if possible.

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