HRT drugs ‘can triple risk of breast cancer’ – study

WOMEN who take a common form of HRT are nearly three times as likely to get breast cancer, a major study has found.

Scientists say the risks of taking the pills have been underestimated for years – and are actually 60 percent higher than previously thought.

The findings, based on a study of 39 000 British women, will re-ignite a 20-year debate about HRT’s benefits and risks.

The research found women who took the combined form of HRT – which contains oestrogen and progestogen – were 2.7 times more likely to develop breast cancer over five years than those who did not take the treatment.

Previously, scientists thought the pills or gels only increased the risk by 1.7 times.

An estimated 1 million British women currently take HRT in a bid to tackle the symptoms of menopause – including hot flushes, headaches and depression – half of whom take the combined form.

In the long term, menopause can also cause bone disease and memory loss.

HRT tackles these symptoms by replacing the female sex hormones oestrogen and progesterone as the body stops producing them.

But while it can transform the lives of many women, research begun in the 1990s showed HRT can also raise the risk of breast cancer, meaning a small number will develop the disease who would otherwise not have.

This is thought to be because the growth of some forms of breast cancers are driven by hormones.

The results led many women to opt not to take HRT. But in recent years experts have stressed that the increased risk only affected a small number of women.

However, the new research by the Institute of Cancer Research in London, and published in the British Journal of Cancer, suggests the number is higher than was previously thought.

Normally, of every 1 000 women in their 50s, 14 would be expected to develop breast cancer over five years.

Scientists had thought that if the same number took the combined form of HRT, 22 would get the disease in this time period.

But according to the new estimates, 34 women in 1 000 would in fact get breast cancer on combined HRT – 20 more than among those not taking the drugs.

Crucially, the researchers found the risk gets higher the longer someone takes the therapy.

Women who take combined HRT for 15 years or more are 3.3 times more likely to get breast cancer than those who never do.

Experts have warned women who do take HRT should take the lowest dose possible, and stop taking it as soon as they are able to.

The researchers found cancer risk went back to normal as soon as women stopped taking HRT. They also found no link between the oestrogen-only form and breast cancer risk.

Study leader Professor Anthony Swerdlow said: “Our research shows that some previous studies are likely to have underestimated the risk of breast cancer with combined oestrogen-progestogen HRT. – Daily Mail