Hormone Replacement Therapy and Breast Cancer Risk
September 21, 2010
One reason that many women are reluctant to use Hormone Replacement Therapy is its association with an increased risk of breast cancer.
So what is the relationship between Hormone Replacement Therapy and breast cancer?
Using Hormone Replacement Therapy does significantly increase the risk of developing breast cancer, and combined HRT raises the risk more than oestrogen only HRT.
The significance of the increased risk depends on the way the figures are portrayed. The media has often reported that HRT raises breast cancer risk by 60%, which sound alarming, but if you consider that your average risk of developing breast cancer is around 1% an increase of 60% makes it around 1.6% which is not that high.
There are likely to be 19 extra cases of breast cancer for every 1000 women taking combined Hormone Replacement Therapy for a period of ten years. The risk increases the longer HRT is taken, but seems to return to normal within five years of stopping treatment.
If you do take Hormone Replacement Therapy it’s essential that you are screened regularly for breast cancer and that you are aware of the signs of breast cancer. Check out breast cancer symptoms here.
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