Long-Term Hormone Replacement Therapy Linked To Higher Risk Of Cancers

A study conducted for long-term use of estrogen-only HRT found that the longer the therapy is continued, the more the risk of breast cancer goes up. The researchers calculated the risk of breast cancer increases by 40 percent after 20 years use of this hormone therapy.

In other words, in women not taking HRT, 35 out of thousand have the possibility of developing breast cancer as against 49 out of thousand women who undergo hormone therapy for 20 years.

Risk Of Ovarian Cancer

A lot of recent studies confirm that women who have undergone HRT in the recent past or are on the hormone therapy have a higher risk of ovarian cancer than women who have never been on hormone therapy.

Another study evaluated more than 909,000 women between ages 50 to 79. They were followed for up to eight years and the result showed 3068 cases of ovarian cancer at the end of the eight years period. In this cohort of patients, 63 percent of the women never underwent HRT and nine percent of the women were current users. In other words, the current hormone therapy users had an approximately 38 percent higher risk of ovarian cancer. That is,  for every 8,300 women on HRT, one case of ovarian cancer per year can be added due to hormone therapy.

However, these risks did decline as the hormone-free years increased. If the patients have been off the therapy for more than two years, their risk of ovarian cancer was found to be the same as that of the non-users.

The best advice would be to talk to your doctor before undergoing any hormone therapy. The decision on the HRT treatment should be based on an individual’s medical history as well as the risk factors. If a woman has an ovarian cancer in the family, it is better to avoid taking any hormones.

The Need For Balanced Decisions

Though the studies and research related to the benefits and risks of hormonal replacement therapy are still continuing, one thing is now clear: this therapy cannot be used for prevention of any diseases.

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The increase of HRT-associated risk of cancer is actually quite small, but some categories of patients might be more vulnerable. If it is very important for a woman to undergo this therapy to quell the menopausal symptoms, it should be used in the lowest possible dose and for the shortest duration. Any doctor should consider an individual’s health, family history of diseases like heart condition, stroke, history of oncological diseases, reproductive history and lifestyle choices like drinking, smoking, diet, weight and blood pressure before prescribing any sort of hormone therapy.