Risks of Hormone Replacement Therapy for menopause still debated
Author: Dr. Helen O’Neill
HRT (also known as menopausal replacement therapy or MRT) uses estrogen and progesterone, the female hormones, to treat common symptoms of menopause and aging. Doctors generally prescribe these hormones during or after menopause.
In a recent prospective, cohort study, specifically looking at hormone use and age at menopause, over 39,000 women have had their age at menopause documented, and 775 of these developed breast cancer. The study found that the women who used combination MHT (oestrogen plus progesterone) were more likely to develop breast cancer by a factor of 2.7; this risk dissipated when the women stopped the MHT, but rose the longer hormone therapy continued.
The study, published by the British Journal of cancer showed that women who were prescribed the most common form of HRT for five years were more than twice as likely to develop cancer as women who took nothing. The risk rose threefold for those who took the medication for ten years or more.
The North American Menopause Society, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, and The Endocrine Society take the position that “most healthy, recently menopausal women can use hormone therapy for relief of their symptoms of hot flashes and vaginal dryness if they so choose.” All agree that women should know the facts about hormone therapy, which are outlined in a joint statement released this year.
The statement concludes that while hormone replacement therapy is an acceptable option for women up to age 59 or within 10 years of menopause, as well as healthy women with moderate to severe menopausal symptoms, individual persons require individual hormone treatments.” Consideration should be given to the woman’s quality of life priorities as well as her personal risk factors such as age, time since menopause, and her risk of blood clots, heart disease, stroke, and breast cancer.”
They agree that there is no question that hormone therapy has an important role in managing symptoms for healthy women during the menopause transition and in early menopause, however ongoing research is still needed to provide more information.
Read More:
http://www.nature.com/bjc/journal/v115/n5/full/bjc2016231a.html
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