WHI: Combo HRT, Breast Cancer Risk Linked

WHI: Combo HRT, Breast Cancer Risk Linked

...."From a public health perspective, there should be reasonable caution in recommending a therapy for less than limiting climacteric symptoms," they stated.
In an editorial accompanying the study, Catherine Schairer, PhD, and Louise A. Brinton, PhD, of the National Cancer Institute in Rockville, Md., commented that "lingering questions" remain.
In particular, they noted that neither the WHI randomized trials nor this observational study considered the possible influence of duration of hormone therapy or current use at the time of diagnosis on the type or prognosis of the tumors.
They also suggested analyzing outcomes for the women excluded from this analysis because of not having had a recent negative mammogram.
"It might be informative to include these women in a future analysis to further determine the potential impact of screening on breast cancer survival and mortality associated with estrogen plus progestin use," wrote Schairer and Brinton.
An additional limitation of the analysis was the unavailability of information on breast cancer treatments used.