The Journal of the American Medical Association released a study today found that post-menopausal women who take the hormone combination of estrogen and protesterone could increase their risk of breast cancer.
For those women taking the hormone combination their risk of breast cancer rose by 8 percent, nearly double the risk of those who do not take the combination. Experts caution women not to stop taking the hormone combination on a short-term basis to relieve menopausal symptoms.
However, long-term use is now somewhat problematic. “I think the totality of the evidence on the benefit and risk has become less certain,” said Andrea Z. LaCroix of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and a key researcher in the Women’s Health Initiative.
The study was conducted by researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the University of Massachusetts and examined the relationship between breast cancer and the combined hormone therapy in 46,355 post-menopausal women for an average of 10 years.
