According to a new study, women that follow HRT, or hormone-replacing therapy, have an increased risk of breast cancer, but it appears that this risk drops within two years after quitting treatment.

 

Previous studies linked hormone therapy, a therapy combining estrogen and progestin, to an increased risk of breast cancer, as well as heart problems. But these problems seem to disappear after women decide to stop this hormone use.

 

For the study, Chlebowski, of the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute, and co-authors analyzed data from the Women's Health Initiative. The analysis found that over five to six years of HRT treatment the odds to develop breast cancer increased significantly. When they stopped the treatment, the risk returned to normal.

 

“It looks like after a couple of years a woman is pretty much back to normal,” says Rowan Chlebowski, lead author of the study published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

The researchers note, however, that the decline in cancer rates could not be attributable to the decline in HT use. Breast cancer incidence declined by 2.2 percent annually from 1999 to 2005. The phenomenon may be due to an increase in mammography during the 1990s. The continuing drop in mortality proves the fact that real progress was made against cancer, reflecting real gains in prevention, early detection, and treatment.

Researchers not involved in the study worry that the economic meltdown may trigger a new increase in cancer rates because of the high price paid for screening tests.