Million Women Study finds link between early HRT and breast cancer

Summary of story from NY Times, recipe 29.1.11

A study published yesterday in Britain seems to suggest that the women thought to be at the lowest risk from hormone replacement therapy (HRT) may actually be at the highest risk, look at least when it comes to breast cancer.

The Million Women Study, published in The Journal of the National Cancer Institute, was based on a million British women aged 50-64.

It concluded that women with the greatest risk of breast cancer from hormones were those who took them earliest — before or soon after menopause began.

This seems to contradict earlier evidence that the risks were neglible for younger women who took HRT in the early stages of menopause and that it may even protect women from heart disease.

Although observational findings are sometimes disproved by randomized clinical trials, the new findings are likely to make it even harder to define any safe timing or duration for hormone use.

Read more about this story at the NY Times.