Hormone Replacement Therapy linked to breast cancer

A recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (February 13 2002;287 (6):734-41) found a clear association between long-term hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in women and an increased risk of breast cancer.

The study looked at 705 women who had been diagnosed with breast cancers of all types between 1990 and 1995 as well another 692 randomly selected age-matched women. Researchers concluded that those who had been on long-term HRT, both on estrogen alone and estrogen plus progestin, had a risk of contracting breast cancer of any type that was 60% to 85% higher than that of women who had not been on long-term HRT. When considering only the lobular type of breast cancer, the risk was more than three times higher for the HRT group.

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