HRT and its link to breast cancer is back on the news again today

New research has revealed that the risk of developing breast cancer from taking combined hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is likely to have been previously underestimated by up to 60%.

According to findings from the Breast Cancer Now Generations Study, women taking combined HRT for around 5 years, are 2.7 times more likely to develop breast cancer than those who are not.

The research has also found this risk increases to 3.3 times in women using combined HRT for more than 15 years. Importantly, this increased level of risk of developing breast cancer is found to return to about normal after one or two years of stopping HRT.

The tone of conversation

The cancer risk associated with combined HRT use has been acknowledged for some time. The concerns raised by a major 2002 study linking HRT to breast cancer, led to a scare campaign that frightened many GPs from offering the treatment. At the time I was Executive Director of Women’s Health Concern, a patient support organisation for women dealing with the menopause and other gynaecological conditions. The fallout and impact on women the scare campaign had was unprecedented.

According to figures from the Health and Social Care Information Centre, in 2000, more than 6.2m prescriptions were issued for HRT in England. By 2004 – following the scare – that figure plunged to 3.8m and continued to fall, with 2.3m prescriptions issued by 2014. This has left many women not getting the help they need in managing their menopausal symptoms from their GPs.

Last year, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) changed its guidance to encourage doctors to offer HRT to patients, claiming one million women were “suffering in silence”. Since then the number of women being offered HRT has steadily increased, once again.

To avoid the type of scare mongering that took place in 2002, I am pleased to see a much more balanced tone from these latest findings, debating the risk and benefits of HRT.

Opinions – quotes

Baroness Delyth Morgan, chief executive at Breast Cancer Now, has said:

“Whether to use HRT is an entirely personal choice, which is why it’s so important that women fully understand the risks and benefits and discuss them with their GP. We hope these findings will help anyone considering the treatment to make an even more informed decision…”

Study leader Professor Anthony Swerdlow, Professor of Epidemiology at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, has said:

“Our findings provide further information to allow women to make informed decisions about the potential risks and benefits of HRT use…”

Dr Heather Currie, spokeswoman for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) and chairwoman of the British Menopause Society (BMS) has said:

“…For many women, any change in breast cancer risk is outweighed by the benefit on their quality of life, bearing in mind that there are many other factors that increase the risk of breast cancer, for example lifestyle factors.”

Hopefully we do not see the type of health scare witnessed in 2002, which put treatment of the menopause back a decade, as this would be a disaster for women’s health.

If you are concerned about taking combined HRT, then we recommend talking to your GP.