New analysis from this 5 year old study is making news according to the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. www.sabcs.org.
Taking HRT, estrogen and progesterone pills, increases the chance of breast cancer. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/whi/
The good news of the analysis is that if you stop taking HRT, your chance for breast cancer decreases!
So like life, no guarantees, and the final choice is yours. Only you know how your menopausal symptoms are affecting your life. Know the risk, understand the treatment and make your own informed decision.
To take a proactive stand, take a look at the army of women. www.armyofwomen.org.
Dr. Susan Love research foundation and Avon enlist ALL women, healthy women too, willing to become research participants, to help find causes of breast cancer.
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BTW, here's an interesting interview of one of our experts on this issue, and he brings up the age factor involved in the (greatly flawed and misunderstood) WHI study.
https://www.empowher.com/media/article/dr-speroff-explains-womens-health-initiative-and-hrt
January 14, 2009 - 12:38pmThis Comment
I agree Kristin, women should stay on the lowest dose that works for them. The study had many flaws but the new news is the rate of breast cancer decreased among women who stopped taking HRT. This study impacted so many doctors and patients that even though the flaws in the study are there to see, both groups are reluctant to use HRT.My point is that here are numbers from a well published study that gives women a reason to be less fearful of using HRT.
January 13, 2009 - 5:45pmThis Comment
I think it's very important to distinguish what type of HRT the women were taking. All HRT is not the same. Yes, of course the women who stopped taking the particular form of synthetic HRT in this study experienced a decrease in breast cancer rate. It was a horrible drug. That's a no-brainer.
January 14, 2009 - 9:46amThis Comment
Actually, this is incorrect information. This only serves to terrify women who are taking hormone replacement therapy.
The WHI study focused on HRT medications manufactured by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals (makers of Prempro and Premarin). The study was cut short because of the fact that women were getting sick as a result.
There are other forms of HRT medications, such as bio-identical HRT meds that offer a safer alternative. Women should absolutely not stop taking HRT because of this failed study.
January 13, 2009 - 5:07pmThis Comment