RESEARCH - New study firmly ties hormone use to breast cancer

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New study firmly ties hormone use to breast cancer

By MARILYNN MARCHIONE

13 Dec 2008

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Taking menopause hormones for five years doubles

the risk for breast cancer, according to a new analysis of a big

federal study that reveals the most dramatic evidence yet of the

dangers of these still-popular pills.

Even women who took estrogen and progestin pills for as little as a

couple of years had a greater chance of getting cancer. And when they

stopped taking them, their odds quickly improved, returning to a

normal risk level roughly two years after quitting.

Collectively, these new findings are likely to end any doubt that the

risks outweigh the benefits for most women.

It is clear that breast cancer rates plunged in recent years mainly

because millions of women quit hormone therapy and fewer newly

menopausal women started on it, said the study's leader, Dr. Rowan

Chlebowski of Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles.

" It's an excellent message for women: You can still diminish risk (by

quitting), even if you've been on hormones for a long time, " said Dr.

Claudine Isaacs of town University's Lombardi Comprehensive

Cancer Center. " It's not like smoking where you have to wait 10 or 15

years for the risk to come down. "

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