Here’s the final word on HRT (hormone replacement therapy): the standard estrogen plus progestin therapy does increase the risk of breast cancer, researchers have confirmed this week.
Researchers from the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI)-one of the largest study groups ever put together-had raised the alarm about HRT around 10 years ago, but other studies had been unable to confirm the therapy caused breast cancer in menopausal women. Some doctors, who were advocates of HRT, jumped on the findings, and tried to reassure women that HRT was safe. The result: confusion among women, who were not sure who to believe.
The WHI researchers dug deeper, and took a closer look at the women who had breast cancer detected by mammogram. They discovered that the number of breast cancer cases was higher among women who had taken estrogen plus progestin HRT, and the women were more likely to die from the cancer.
(Source: Journal of the National Cancer Institute, March 29, 2013; doi: 10.1093/jnci/djt043).
