Research supports evidence that Prempro (Premarin-Provera combination hormone replacement therapy (HRT)) increases the risk of developing ovarian cancer.
The study suggests that even short-term use of Prempro (a combination HRT) may increase the risk of ovarian cancer and cause it to be detected at a later and more advanced stage. But this ovarian cancer risk increase applies only to certain women.
Two studies published in The Journal of the American Medical Association provide some of the most convincing evidence to date on the link between HRT and ovarian cancer risk. Not only did they confirm previous results from the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) studies that found an increase in ovarian cancer among Prempro (combination HRT) users, but they contradict the notion that cancers found among HRT users tend to be "good" ones.
"It directly challenges the concept that estrogen-progestin use results in early-stage, more favorable, and easily treated cancers," says researcher Rowan Chlebowski, MD, PhD, Harbor-UCLA Research and Education Institute, Torrance, Calif. "We found pretty much the opposite."
"Estrogen plus progestin therapy was associated with ovarian cancers found at a more advanced stage and a substantial increase in abnormal mammograms," Chlebowski tells WebMD. "This represents a new risk that must by considered for even short-term menopausal therapy."
It is unknown whether these Prempro ovarian cancer findings apply to women on other forms of HRT -- including women on low-dose hormones and women on estrogen only.
Short-Term Risk of Prempro ovarian Cancer
The study is based on an analysis of WHI data involving 16,608 postmenopausal women taking daily Prempro. It shows that combined hormone replacement therapy increased the total number of ovarian cancer cases and the number of ovarian cancers that had spread by 24% compared with placebo. ovarian cancers among women on Prempro were also larger and diagnosed at a later stage than cancers diagnosed among non-users.
Although previous studies had suggested that ovarian cancer rates were similar among short-term users of hormone replacement therapy, this study showed that short-term HRT seems to have increased ovarian cancer risk for certain women. (Short term Prempro ovarian cancers).
Some of the women had been on HRT before the study. And the increase in ovarian cancer seen with short-term treatment during the study -- as little as three years -- was seen only in this group of women. In other words, these women had been on HRT for more than a total of three years -- but the study did not reveal exactly how long.
Long-Term Risks of Prempro ovarian Cancer
The second study is based on more than 2,000 women aged 65-79 from Washington state. It shows that long-term use of Prempro combined hormone therapy increased the risk of ovarian cancer by about 70%, regardless of whether the therapy was taken every day (known as continuous therapy) or sequentially (about 10 days a month to mimic natural hormonal fluctuations). ovarian cancer risk was greatest among those women who had used combined hormone therapy the longest, up to 15 years, and the risk of certain invasive cancers increased by up to 170%.
"Right now, we can definitively say that the risk of ovarian cancer is increased by combined hormone therapy, at least in the long-term or more then several years," says researcher Noel Weiss, MD, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and Washington State University.
"With confidence we can also say that if there is any difference between continuous and sequential use, it is small -- both increase the risk of ovarian cancer."
We are no longer accepting inquiries for Hormone Replacement Therapy cases.
|
