Hormone Replacement ups Ovarian Cancer Risks, Too

Ivanhoe Newswire
Thursday, October 12, 2006; 12:00 AM

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Add ovarian cancer to the list of cancers thought to be influenced by hormone replacement therapies.

Researchers from the National Institutes of Health in Rockville, Maryland, looked at HRT use and cancer rates in nearly 100,000 older women taking part in an AARP study on diet and health. They found the rate of ovarian cancer increased in women using estrogen alone after 10 years. In women using estrogen plus progestin, the risk escalated after just five years. The latter was mainly true for estrogen/progestin formulations called sequential regimens.

Researchers also found a link between the use of estrogen alone and ovarian cancer after 10 years in women who had hysterectomies, but the link was not considered statistically significant.

The authors note the increased risks seen in their study are small, but new evidence links hormone replacement therapy to an increased risk of cancer in postmenopausal women.

"Long durations of use of unopposed estrogen and of estrogen plus progestin, especially sequential regimens, are associated with increased ovarian cancer risk," they write. "These data expand the range of possible risks associated with menopausal hormone therapy."

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SOURCE: The Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 2006;98:1397-1405