Menopausal hormones allegedly without risk

Hormone treatment during menopause should not increase the risk of breast cancer

11.10.2012

Hormone treatment of women in conventional medicine is considered an important treatment option against menopausal symptoms. However, hormone therapy is controversial, as it, for example, according to some studies, increases the risk of breast cancer. Danish doctors and researchers now claim that hormone replacement therapy after menopause does not significantly increase the risk of cancer. Also, there would be no more strokes or pulmonary embolism. Instead, even the risk of suffering from heart disease should be lower with hormone therapy. Experts criticize the study as "weak".

Lower heart disease risk
According to a Danish study, hormone treatment of menopausal women does not increase the risk of cancer. Originally, the scientists only examined the cardiovascular risk. Again, the researchers could not find more strokes or pulmonary embolisms than women in menopause without hormone replacement therapy, as in the study report on the website „Medical questions“ (BMJ.COM) was called. According to them, treated women even have a lower risk of contracting heart disease.

In the long-term studies, the doctors observed female subjects from various Danish clinics for 16 years. A total of 504 patients were selected who began hormone treatment promptly after the onset of menopause. For the evaluation, the physicians compare the data with 504 other women who did not undergo drug hormone therapy. During the study period, at the end of the investigation in 2008, 27 women in the group of women receiving hormone replacement therapy had died. Eight of the deceased suffered a heart attack. In the group of the untreated died altogether 40 women. 19 of them from heart failure or heart attack.

Significant weaknesses of the study
However, the data collection shows some weaknesses, as the researchers themselves concede. Thus, other factors such as weight, previous medical history, health status, diet, exercise or smoking were not included. The „This study was not performed with a placebo preparation“, why the meaningfulness is limited. Nevertheless, the present work is „the first randomized study in healthy women, early in postmenopausal 17-β-Estradiol and norethisterone acetate were treated and the only one that ran over a 10 year period“. Therefore, the data would suggest that „Timely initiation of hormone replacement therapy in postmenopausal women reduces mortality from heart attacks and heart failure“. Important in the result is therefore that „Early administration and longer duration of therapy does not increase the risk of breast cancer or stroke“, so the study authors.

Danish study is considered „weak“ to call
The studies are criticized by the French scientist Françoise Clavel-Chapelon. She and her team have been researching the topic since 1990 and have already evaluated the data of around 100,000 women. Thus, the scientists came with their study in 2007 to the conclusion that „Hormone treatments during menopause increased the risk of breast cancer by twice“. Because the research involved much more data and also used other methods, the study was „to call the Danish doctors weak“, so Clavel-Chapelon.

Already in 2002 and 2003, other large-scale evaluations in the US revealed that hormone treatments increase the risk of breast cancer many times over. However, these studies were also questioned by other researchers because the results were not clearly comparable, as there were, for example, large differences in the median age of women when they began to receive the hormone. There were also differences in the start of hormone treatment and the doses administered.

Hormone replacement therapy is big business for pharmaceutical manufacturers. The only indicators that suggest a medical intervention are so-called post-menopausal symptoms, such as hot flashes, depressive moods or undersupply of the vaginal mucosa. According to the German Cancer Research Center, even those complaints can be alleviated by a healthy diet, yoga and sufficient exercise. According to the experts, almost 30 percent of breast cancer cases in Germany can be avoided if hormone administration were not required. (Sb)

Also read:
Evening fast against menopausal complaints
Yoga relieves menopause discomfort
Breast cancer screening: Instead of hormones a lot of exercise
Estrogen-free help with gynecological disorders