Hormone supplements with estrogen linked to breast cancer

A new study has found that female who use hormone supplements with estrogen and progestin are at an increased risk of estrogen receptor positive breast cancer risk.

Researchers from the Slone Epidemiology Center at Boston University led an investigation of this association in data from the four large studies of women.

In the study, two types of postmenopausal female hormone use, combination therapy and use of estrogen alone were assessed in relation to risk of estrogen receptor positive and estrogen receptor negative breast cancer.

In white women, use of combination therapy was associated with increased risk of estrogen receptor positive breast cancer, with risk increasing as the duration increased.

The risk declined after cessation of use but was still somewhat elevated up to 10 years later.

There was no increase in risk associated with use of estrogen alone, nor was there any increase in risk of estrogen receptor negative breast cancer associated with use of either combination therapy or estrogen alone.

Author Lynn Rosenberg of the Boston University Medical Center said that the present findings established that combination therapy in black women was associated with increased risk of estrogen receptor positive breast cancer, similar to the pattern in white women.

Rosenberg said that their findings highlighted the importance of black women limiting their use of combination therapy.

The study appears in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.