Caveats and Concerns With New Study on Hormone Therapy and Breast Cancer

Note: references studies - WHI (Women's Health Initiative) and California Teachers Study

Clinicians vary in their approaches to HT, said Dr. Ursin. "Certain gynecologists are very careful with finding the right dose for each woman, and some even prescribe [estrogen] alone for women who have a uterus, but then monitor the uterus carefully. Please keep in mind that the risk of breast cancer associated with EPT is relatively moderate. The risk of endometrial cancer with [estrogen] alone is much higher — a more than 4-fold increase in risk in this same population of California teachers," she said.

Medical News: AACR: No NSAID Link to Ovarian Cancer (data taken from California Teachers Study)

WASHINGTON -- Regular use of anti-inflammatory drugs did not reduce the risk of ovarian cancer, a large prospective cohort study showed.

Neither weekly nor daily use of aspirin or other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) influenced the relative risk of ovarian cancer, California investigators reported here at the American Association for Cancer Research meeting.

But self-reported daily use of acetaminophen almost doubled the risk of ovarian cancer, they found.

"Our results do not support the hypothesis that these medications reduce the risk of ovarian cancer," Lei Duan, PhD, of City of Hope in Duarte, Calif., and colleagues concluded. "Conversely, the finding that daily acetaminophen use was associated with increased risk of ovarian cancer differs from previous studies and may warrant further investigation."...cont'd
Action Points:

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• Explain to interested patients that regular use of aspirin or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs did not influence the risk of ovarian cancer.
• Explain that daily use of acetaminophen was associated with an increased risk of ovarian cancer.
• Explain that the findings were based on a retrospective review of a large database and therefore cannot prove that acetaminophen caused the increased risk of ovarian cancer.
• Note that this study was published as an abstract and presented at a conference. These data and conclusions should be considered to be preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.