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Health Lover

Last Modified: 19 Apr 2007
By: Bridgid Nzekwu

http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/society/health/hrt+linked+with+ovarian+can
cer/447862

Women on hormone replacement therapy have a 20 per cent higher risk of
dying from ovarian cancer, says a new report.

The research, from the authoritative Million Women study, suggests
that as many as 1,000 women may have died from ovarian cancer between
1991 and 2005, partly because they were using HRT.

But health experts say that current advice will not change and that
women using HRT should do so for the shortest possible time.

For millions of women it was a liberating treatment. HRT banished hot
flushes, fatigue, mood swings, night sweats and many other symptoms of
the menopause.

In recent years, though, health scares about hormone replacement
therapy put many women off taking it.

Now new research suggests that in some cases using HRT can be fatal.

article continues below...

HRT health scares
There has been a series of health scares associated with HRT -

In 2002 an American study found it increased the risk of heart
attacks, strokes and breast cancer.
In 2003 British research concluded that using HRT over 10 years
doubled the risk of breast cancer.
In April 2007 a new American study revealed that there was NO
increased risk of a heart attack in women in their 50s.

The study found that women on it have a 20 per cent higher risk of
developing ovarian cancer, as well as an increased risk of dying.

And there's a 63 per cent higher combined risk of breast, ovarian and
endometrial cancers.

The study concludes that 1,000 extra British women died between 1991
and 2005.

'What concerns me is they're extending the period of the research from
five years to 14 years, and claiming that a thousand woman would die
over that time. This is really replacing science with sensationalism.'
John Stevenson, Women's Health ConcernThe alarming findings are
already causing controversy among medical experts, some questioning
the science behind them.

The confusion over whether HRT is safe has seen the number of women
using it fall dramatically, from two million in 2001 to one million
four years later.

The British Menopause Society and the Women's Health Initiative are
just two organisations who have in the past condemned contradictory
statistics put out by American researchers.

If the latest research is correct, it means that in Britain one woman
in every 2,500 taking HRT will develop ovarian cancer.

But with so many conflicting messages, many women will remain unsure
as to whether they should continue or even begin treatment.