Cancer risk in hormone drugs

24 August 2016 - 08:31 By ©The Daily Telegraph
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Cancer cells.
Cancer cells.
Image: Thinkstock

Hormone replacement therapy can triple the risk of breast cancer, a study into one of the most commonly prescribed pills has found.

HRT drugs treat symptoms of menopause such as hot flushes, migraines, disrupted sleep, mood changes and depression by topping up the levels of hormones produced by the body.

The Institute of Cancer Research and Breast Cancer Now studied 100,000 women over 40 years. It found that those who took the combined oestrogen and progestogen pill for around five years were 2.7 times more likely to develop cancer compared to women who took nothing, or only the oestrogen pill.

The risk rose to 3.3 times for women who took the drugs for 15 years or more.

About 14 in 1000 women in their 50s are expected to develop breast cancer, but that rises to 34 in 1000 for women taking the combined pill, the study suggests.

"Our research shows that some previous studies are likely to have underestimated the risk of breast cancer with combined oestrogen-progestogen HRT," said the study leader, Anthony Swerdlow, professor of epidemiology at the Institute of Cancer Research, London.

"Current use of combined HRT increases the risk of breast cancer by up to threefold, depending on how long HRT has been used. Our findings provide information to allow women to make informed decisions about the potential risks and benefits of HRT use."

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