Hormone Therapy Raises Odds of Breast Cancer: Study

Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) usually undertaken by women to stem the symptoms of menopause end up in higher incidents of abnormal mammograms and breast biopsies, researchers at the UCLA reported.

For the study the researchers enrolled over 16,000 post-menopausal women. About half received a combined hormone therapy of estrogen plus progestin, while the other half received an inert.

Every woman was required to undergo a yearly mammogram and breast examination.

At the end of five years of hormone therapy, women developed an 11 percent greater risk of contracting breast cancer, the researchers noted.

Also, 1 in 10 women taking the hormones had an abnormal mammogram and 1 in 25 women underwent an unneeded breast biopsy. Moreover, biopsies were less accurate in diagnosing cancer among women in the higher-risk group.

While, 199 women taking hormone therapy detected positive for breast cancer, 150 women in the placebo group developed breast cancer.

The combined hormone therapy also made it more difficult to detect breast cancer. About 15 percent of biopsies on women taking hormone therapy showed cancer, compared with 20 percent of biopsies in women who were not on the therapy, researchers found.

The findings of the study appear in Tuesday’s issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, a publication of the Journal of American Medical Association.

As the adverse affects of HRT persisted for at least a year after stopping medication, Michael, a Kaiser clinical investigator noted, "Women need to have a risk-benefit conversation with their physician."

"Use hormones for the shortest time and in the smallest amount possible", Michael added.

About Menopause:

Menopause signals the end of the fertile phase of a woman's life. It is the permanent physiological or natural, cessation of menstrual cycles in women. Vasomotor symptoms include hot flashes and palpitations, while psychological symptoms include depression, anxiety, irritability, mood swings and lack of concentration.

Medically, Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is a treatment premeditated for surgically menopausal (uterus removal), perimenopausal (menopause transition years, the years both before and after the last period ever), and post-menopausal women, to help reduce the discomfort and health problems caused by diminished circulating estrogen and progesterone hormones.

The treatment involves a series of drugs designed to artificially boost hormone levels, so as to alleviate hot flashes, mood swings and other symptoms of menopause. The main types of hormones involved include estrogens and progesterone, progestin.