Breast Cancer Deaths Not Tied to HRT Use

LONDON (Reuters Health) - Women who take hormone replacement therapy (HRT) are at increased risk of developing breast cancer, but they are not more likely to die from the disease, researchers report.

Dr. R. Prasad and colleagues from University Hospital South Manchester told the 7th Nottingham International Breast Cancer Conference held here last week that prior HRT use does not adversely affect the survival rates of women.

They studied 589 patients with cancers detected between 1991 and 1997. Of these women, 172 had used HRT while 417 had never used HRT. The likelihood that tumors had spread to lymph nodes and the size of tumors did not differ between HRT users and non-users.

Prasad and colleagues followed up their study and found that 91% of women who had used HRT were still alive after 10 years compared with 88% of those who had never taken HRT.

``Prior HRT use does not adversely affect survival after diagnosis of breast cancer,'' Prasad told the conference.

However, a further study by H. Khan and colleagues at William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, Kent, found no evidence to suggest that patients who have taken HRT fare better after cancer treatment.

Khan's team studied questionnaires completed by 1,887 women who developed primary breast cancer between 1980 and 1999. Some 388 had used HRT. They were compared with the same number of never-users who were matched for age and age at diagnosis.

Khan and colleagues found no evidence to suggest that HRT users fared better. ``There is no evidence that HRT-related breast cancer has a more favourable outcome,'' Khan told the conference.

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