A Second Study Questions the Wisdom of Starting Combined Hormone Therapy at Menopause Due to Increased Breast Cancer Risk

It is common to start hormone therapy at the onset of menopause for those suffering from hot flashes and other conditions peculiar to menopause.

The combined hormone therapy uses both estrogen and progesterone.

Now a second study in UK again raises doubts about this form of treatment.

The first study, Women's Health Initiative (WHI), was a randomized clinical trial conducted here in USA. In 2002 they published their results that linked combined hormone therapy to occurrences of breast cancer.

The present research, the Million Women Study (MWS) was conducted in United Kingdom.

While this hormone combination may be effective in controlling menopausal symptoms, both studies found higher incidence of breast cancer in their subjects.

The British researchers found that women who start taking menopausal hormone therapy around the time of menopause have a higher risk of breast cancer than women who begin taking hormones a few years later.

The earlier study had been opposed by others who argued that the period of onset of menopause provided a safe window for the combined hormone therapy.

But this second study now questions the validity of that argument and casts doubts whether such a "safe" window actually exists.

Both studies found that breast cancer incidence fell rapidly in those subjects who stopped the combined hormone therapy.

But both studies also differed in their findings regarding single hormone therapy in place of the combined one. This involves using only estrogen without progesterone.

The older study in USA found no significant risk with estrogen-only therapy. The present study however found significant risk with single hormone therapy too.

As these research findings can be confusing to the lay person, further studies will be required to establish definite treatment guidelines. That means the status quo is unchanged as far as treatment is concerned.

Interested readers can follow up with the future updates by National Cancer Institute, USA.

The UK Study Website:
millionwomenstudy
US Study Website:
nhlbi.nih.gov/whi