Women told not to panic over HRT scare
Abby Langtry, project leader of Action Breast Cancer, urged women taking HRT to consult their GP and to continue with their HRT in the meantime.
ABC's helpline was busy yesterday with calls from women anxious to know more about the study and how they should respond to it.
Ms Langtry said there was no need to panic but women ought to have their treatment reviewed on an individual basis because it was not a harmless medication. However, the alarming findings published in the Lancet medical journal, are likely to spell the end of HRT as a long-term treatment, though some women will continue to take HRT for the short-term relief of menopausal symptoms.
Another study published a year ago also found that the long-term use of the same oestrogen and progesterone hormone therapy increased women's risk of a stroke by 41%, a heart attack by 29% and breast cancer by up to 26%.
The breast cancer finding was the decisive factor in ending the study three years earlier than planned, according to scientists at the US-based National Institute of Health.
The latest study of more than a million women, carried out by a team of scientists at Oxford University, estimated that over the past decade use of HRT had resulted in an extra 20,000 breast cancers in women aged 50 to 64.
The Irish Medicines Board (IMB) said that while the results did not necessitate urgent treatment changes, women should discuss their treatment with their doctor because each case should be evaluated individually.
The IMB said the increased cancer risk associated with HRT products had been recognised since they were first marketed in Ireland and all patient and prescribing information carried extensive warnings and information about the breast cancer risk. All products available were the subject of ongoing reviews by both the board and its EU counterparts, it said.
Ms Langtry said it was important to note that it was women who are taking combination HRT for more than 10 years whose chances of developing breast cancer were doubled.
"We would never recommend that women take HRT for more than five years. Under three years would be ideal, although it does increase their breast cancer risk slightly," she said.
Ms Langtry said women taking HRT should have annual mammograms and breast examinations carried out by their GP. The women should also be breast-aware themselves, she added.
As for women thinking of taking HRT, she said there were benefits. "There are certainly cases where it should be used but it should be an informed decision on both the woman's part and the GP's part. The woman should know what the risks and the benefits are."
Ms Langtry also said a baseline mammogram should be carried out before a woman is put on HRT as it can cause changes in the breast that are not harmful but make subsequent mammograms more difficult to read.
Ms Langtry said there were alternatives to HRT, including diet changes, soya products, evening primrose oil, multi-vitamins and plant oestrogens, called phyto-oestrogens.
However, she said no clinical trials had been conducted on phyto-oestrogens so it was not known if they could increase the breast cancer risk.
Professor Niall O'Higgins, a breast cancer specialist and a board member of the National Breast Screening Programme, said the study had to be taken seriously because the Oxford group had a very high reputation in epidemiological work in cancer.
lAction Breast Cancer helpline: 1800 30 90 40
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