Hormone therapy: no big rise in ovarian ca risk, bone benefits don't outweigh risks. (cancer).(Clinical Rounds)

Publication: Internal Medicine News

Publication Date: 01-NOV-03

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COPYRIGHT 2003 International Medical News Group

Two new Women's Health Initiative final analyses have concluded that combination hormone therapy may result in a slight but insignificant increase in ovarian cancer.

Also, despite offering fracture protection to healthy postmenopausal women, the therapy's overall risks still outweigh its benefits for bone.

One of the analyses showed a 1.58-fold increase in ovarian cancers with hormone therapy (HT), compared with placebo, but the increase was not statistically significant, because of the small number of women who developed the rare cancer: 20 cases in the HT group vs. 12 in the placebo group after 5.6 years of follow-up; ovarian cancer deaths also were increased in the HT group, compared with the placebo group (9 vs. 3) (JAMA 290[13]:1739-48, 2003).

"The low rates of gynecologic cancers in the population and the limited precision in the estimated effects from this trial suggest that the results should not have an appreciable influence...

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