Word: breast
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...spring of this year, however, a new danger emerged from the data. Not only were women who took estrogen and progestin more likely to suffer heart attacks and blood clots in the lungs and legs, but they also had a slightly increased risk of developing breast cancer. That was just enough to tip the scale. Though the women on HRT suffered fewer hip fractures (1 woman per 1,000 per year vs. 1 1/2 women per 1,000 per year), the benefit wasn't great enough to warrant the risk. Because the trial was designed to look at women...
Intriguingly, the part of the WHI study that focuses on the long-term benefits of estrogen alone among women who have undergone hysterectomies is ongoing. So far, the safety board has not detected any excess risk of breast cancer in this group. Apparently, estrogen plus progestin has a negative cumulative effect on the breast that estrogen by itself seems not to have...
There is also a chance that certain estrogen-like compounds may be developed that will capture all the hormone's benefits without any of its risks. One such drug, raloxifene, has been shown to prevent fractures, so far without increasing a woman's risk of breast cancer. But a number of women suffer hot flashes and even blood clots while on raloxifene, making it an unlikely candidate to replace estrogen completely...
...begun in 1991 by the National Institutes of Health, is one of the largest studies of women's health ever undertaken. More than 160,000 post-menopausal women ages 50 to 79 were recruited into a variety of trials designed to find the best ways to prevent heart disease, breast and colorectal cancers, and osteoporosis. Thanks to the study's rigid design, most doctors view the WHI as the definitive word on women's health. Final results were due out--and eagerly awaited--in 2005. But one part of the study, involving more than 16,000 women, was halted last...
...ways to keep bones strong that do not carry the same risks. These include calcium supplements, drugs like the bisphosphonates and weight-bearing exercise. A newer class of estrogen-like drugs called SERMs (raloxifene is an example) is also showing promise in reducing fractures without raising the odds of breast cancers...