Word: progestins
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Making this decision has never been easy, and last week, alas, it got harder still. According to a study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association, the estimated 8.6 million American women now taking estrogen plus progestin--the most commonly prescribed form of hormone-replacement therapy--may be running a significantly higher risk of developing breast cancer than previously suspected...
...much higher? The combination of estrogen plus progestin, the study's authors calculated, may increase one's breast-cancer risk by 8% a year, vs. 1% for women taking estrogen alone. "What was surprising was the magnitude of the increase," says epidemiologist Dr. Walter Willett of the Harvard School of Public Health. "It's rare to see such a strong effect...
...picture may not be quite so grim as it seems, however. For one thing, although the study was large--drawing from a pool of 46,355 postmenopausal women--the number of women on combined estrogen and progestin therapy was comparatively modest. For another, the rise in risk only became striking after four or more years of continuous hormone use, which further reduced the pool of subjects. In the end, out of a total of 2,082 cases of breast cancer, 101 occurred among women who were currently taking estrogen-progestin--and of these, a striking 39 occurred among the roughly...
...these reasons, says National Cancer Institute epidemiologist Catherine Schairer, the study's lead author, women should not panic, especially if they are taking estrogen-progestin for just two or three years to obtain relief from the discomfort of hot flashes and mood swings that mark the onset of menopause. Indeed, this study bears out what most experts have long believed: that short-term use of hormones can confer substantial benefits while posing relatively few risks...
...entirely reliable, and aesthetically satisfactory to husband and wife." Within 10 years, however, Pincus and his colleagues delivered, inventing the drug that sparked the sexual revolution. Introduced in the U.S. in 1960, the birth control pill, known simply as the Pill, was an ovulation-suppressing mix of estrogen and progestin that was 99% effective...