Women, Doctors Face Dilemma Over HRT Use

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Women, Doctors Face Dilemma Over HRT Use

Fri Aug 8, 9:47 AM ET Add Health - Reuters to My

 

 

By Patricia Reaney

 

LONDON (Reuters) - Women and doctors must weigh the pros and cons of

hormone replacement therapy (HRT) after research shows it can double

the normal risk of breast cancer (news - web sites), health experts

said on Friday.

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Is relief of the hot flushes, night sweats and mood swings of the

menopause worth the increased odds of developing a disease that is

the leading cancer killer in women?

 

 

That is the questions millions of women will be asking after a

British study left no doubt that HRT raises the likelihood of

developing the disease.

 

 

The study by the charity Cancer Research UK confirms the results of

earlier research about the danger of estrogen-only HRT and provides

new evidence that combined HRT -- estrogen and progestogen -- poses

a bigger risk.

 

 

" Many women have been worried about HRT and the risk of breast

cancer. It confirms these fears, " Delyth Morgan, the chief executive

of the breast cancer charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer, told

Reuters.

 

 

Combined HRT is the preferred type of HRT in Britain and Europe

because it lessens the risk of cancer of the womb which is linked

with estrogen-only HRT.

 

 

Morgan said that whether or not to take HRT must be an individual

decision, and stressed that the breast cancer risk is not evident

until more than a year after taking HRT and recedes quickly when it

is stopped.

 

 

" This is a very big study and a very important study because the

idea of HRT has, in some cases, been cited as a panacea for good

health in older women. The sad news is that it is not the case and

there are thousands of women who may have developed breast cancer

specifically because of taking HRT, " Morgan added.

 

 

NO REGRETS

 

 

But Barbara Sims, a 56-year-old retiree from Basildon in eastern

England who was prescribed HRT for six years and was taken off the

treatment when she was diagnosed with breast cancer, said she has no

regrets.

 

 

She found it worked well to relieve her debilitating symptoms of the

menopause. But rather than taking it for six years, she thinks women

should be on it for shorter periods.

 

 

" Perhaps one or two years and then have a break because your body

may have adjusted by then. If the symptoms (of the menopause) don't

come back then you do not need it anymore, " she said in an

interview.

 

 

Britain's Committee on Safety of Medicine (CSM), which has reviewed

the results of the study and issued advice to doctors, said the

benefits of short-term use of HRT, for about a year, outweigh the

risks.

 

 

It also suggested that treatment should reassessed each year and

said women taking HRT for a longer term should be informed of the

risk of breast cancer and other adverse effects.

 

 

" Women have used complementary therapies to help cope with

menopausal symptoms for many, many years. I imagine this will

encourage women also to think about other ways of coping, " Morgan

said.

 

 

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