HRT found to double risk of ovarian cancer
HORMONE replacement therapy is almost doubling the risk of a million middle- aged British women developing ovarian cancer, a study warns.
Research discloses that women who take HRT to treat menopause symptoms increase their risk of getting two common types of ovarian cancer by more than 40 per cent.
Even taking HRT for fewer than five years, as is normal, also increases the chances of contracting the disease.
Researchers from Oxford University analysed the results of 52 studies, involving a total of 21,488 women with ovarian cancer, almost all from North America, Europe and Australia.
Flushes
They found there was an increased risk of developing ovarian cancer in those taking HRT or those who had used the treatment within the past five years.
While the risk of ovarian cancer fell after stopping treatment, women who had used HRT for at least five years still had a greater risk of developing ovarian cancer 10 years later, according to the research published in the medical journal The Lancet.
About a million women in Britain are having HRT to combat symptoms of the menopause – such as hot flushes.
Sir Richard Peto, the Oxford University professor who headed the research, said: “If one million women are taking HRT for five years then about 1,000 of these will finish up with cancer of the ovary.
“For women who take HRT for five years from around age 50, there will be about one extra ovarian cancer for every 1,000 users and one extra death for every 1,700 users.”
Fiona Osgun, Cancer Research UK’s health information officer, said: “If you are thinking of stopping or starting HRT, speak to your GP.”
World Health Organisation, American and European HRT guidelines fail to mention ovarian cancer.
British guidelines state only that ovarian cancer might be increased with long- term use.
In Britain, about 7,100 women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer each year.
It is the fifth most common cancer among women after breast cancer, bowel cancer, lung cancer and cancer of the womb.