Another nail was driven into the coffin of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) when researchers at Kaiser Permanente recently released study results concerning the now controversial therapy.
After the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) trial in 2002 found elevated risks of breast cancer and stroke for women on hormone therapy, the number of women using it took a nosedive. The latest study done by Kaiser Permanente has linked that drop to a decrease in breast-cancer rates from 2003 to 2004.
The researchers looked at the medical histories of 7,386 women who had been diagnosed with and treated for breast cancer. The time span covered 26 years—from 1980 to 2006.
And what they found was interesting—and builds on prior findings.
From the early 1980s through the early 1990s, breast-cancer rates increased 26 percent. Continuing on through 2001, they increased an additional 15 percent on top of that. But from 2003 to 2006, the rates took a dip by 18 percent. The increases occurred mostly in women over age 45 who had a specific type of breast cancer—estrogen receptor-positive.
The researchers broke the results down further.
Looking at the 26 percent increase, they also noted an increase in the rates of mammograms done as well as hormone therapy use—especially combination therapy (using estrogen plus progestin). That additional 15 percent increase that occurred later during that time frame paralleled the ongoing rise in hormone therapy use, while mammogram rates remained the same.
And even more obvious (at least to me) is the fact that as the use of hormone therapy went down, breast-cancer rates went right along with it—even though mammogram rates continued to remain stable.
It would seem that where there's smoke, there's fire. But, incredibly, the debate goes on.
Some doctors in the mainstream deny any link between the two incidents, believing it's all merely coincidence or possibly due to some other factor. One line of thought that has been suggested is that maybe not as many women have been getting mammograms. But the researchers in the Kaiser Permanente study specifically noted that mammography-screening rates remained the same.
More reasonable doctors have been recommending that if a woman chooses to undergo HRT, she should do so only as needed and for as short a length of time as possible. I recommend that if you are on HRT or are considering it, you talk to your doctor about these findings in relation to your individual risk. After all, research and debates are one thing, but you'll be the one taking all the risk.
When it comes to bio-identical hormones, I urge you to find and work with a doctor used to working with them. These types of hormones are designed to mimic exactly the body's own hormones in proper proportions.
When it comes to Premarin and Prempro, they're chemical soups derived from the urine of pregnant mares. No one even knows everything that's in these. When you add to that the cruel conditions under which the horses are kept that are used to supply the urine, you have a major medical disgrace that dates back decades.
