Breast Cancer Risk Exacerbated by Hormone Replacement Therapy

by Brittany Shoot · 2010-10-20 12:30:00 UTC
Topics:

During Breast Cancer Awareness Month, it's sometimes hard to find actual information about women's health. Pink ribbon campaigns flood stores and social networks, but not many people actually talk about tangible resources for women's health or how breast cancer intersects with other women's health issues.

Well, at least one terrifying report was somewhat well-timed for the month-long awareness campaign. Headlines all over the country today are warning women that post-menopausal hormone replacement therapy, which has previously been linked to breast cancer, is now shown to also exacerbate the same cancer, making it more deadly than before. Post-menopausal women who take hormones have been found to have worsened symptoms, such as cancerous lymph nodes, and have been more likely to die from breast cancer.

The federally-funded study of hormone replacement therapy was first suspended in 2002 because of the emerging health problems in participants. The follow-up study information, published this week by the Women's Health Initiative in the Journal of the American Medical Association, does not specify how long women can safely take hormones. Before the study was cut short, the hormones had also been linked to a rise in heart disease, strokes, and blood clots.

Still, a lot of women have sought relief in HRT treatments. Taken to relieve menopause symptoms like hot flashes and night sweats, the hormones in question are typically a mix of estrogen and a type of synthetic progesterone sold as a pill called Prempro. Previously shown to increase breast density and thereby delay cancer detection and treatment, researchers followed up with women from the initial study and found that those who took Prempro seemed to have both larger tumors, which are harder to treat, and cancer that spread beyond the breasts.

Does this mean menopausal women should abandon HRT? The debate has been raging since the study was first suspended, and it likely won't die down any time soon. Depending on your own body chemistry, menopause can be an insufferable, years-long battle against loss of productivity, sleeplessness, and mood swings; or, menopause can be a relatively tolerable transitional phase. What menopause and its various treatments shouldn't be is a gateway to breast cancer.

Photo Credit: Caitlinator

Brittany Shoot is a freelance writer, editor and critic. She's one of the editors of the Feminist Review blog and a frequent contributor to a variety of progressive publications.

RELATED PETITION

Pass the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act, To End ‘Drive Through’ Mastectomies
SIGN PETITION
294 People
PREVIOUS STORY:
Wear Purple to Honor LGBT Suicides
NEXT STORY:
Fox News' Trotta Still Doesn't Get It: I Want Her Rape Apologism Off the Air

COMMENTS (2)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.