New research suggests that long-term use of any type of hormones to ease menopause symptoms can raise a woman’s risk of breast cancer.

It is already known that taking pills that combine estrogen and progestin – the most common type of hormone therapy – can increase breast cancer risk. but women who no longer have a uterus can take estrogen alone, which was thought to be safe and possibly even slightly beneficial in terms of cancer risk.

The new study suggests otherwise, if the pills are used for many years. it tracked the health of about 60,000 nurses and found that use of any kind of hormones for 10 years or more slightly raised the chances of developing breast cancer.“There’s a continued increase in risk with longer durations of use, and there does not appear to be a plateau,’’ said study leader Dr. Wendy Chen of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

The hormone picture has been confusing, and the absolute risk of breast cancer for any woman taking hormone pills remains small. Doctors say women should use the lowest dose needed for the shortest time possible.

“It’s hard to be surprised that if you keep taking it, sooner or later it’s going to raise risk,’’ said Dr. Robert Clarke of Georgetown University’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The study was discussed Sunday in Chicago at a conference of the American Association for Cancer Research.

Another study presented at the conference might help explain why black women are so much more likely than whites to develop and die from cervical cancer: they seem to have more trouble clearing HPV, the virus that causes the disease.

Doctors have long thought that less access to screening and follow-up health care were the reasons black women are 40 percent more likely to develop cervical cancer and twice as likely to die from it. the new study involving young college women suggests there might be a biological explanation for the racial disparity, too.

If further study confirms this novel finding, it would make the HPV vaccine even more important for black women, said Worta McCaskill-Stevens, a prevention specialist at the National Cancer Institute. the vaccine is recommended for all girls starting at age 11.

Certain strains of HPV, the human papillomavirus, cause cervical cancer, but brief infections are very common in young women. they usually go away on their own within a year or so and only pose a cancer risk when they last long-term.

Researchers at the University of South Carolina in Columbia studied 326 white and 113 black students taking part in a wider federal health study. All were given Pap tests – lab exams of cells scraped from the cervix – and HPV tests every six months throughout their years in school.

Although the groups were similar in how many new HPV infections were detected and risk factors such as how many sex partners they had, doctors saw striking differences in how long their infections lasted.

At any checkup, black women were 1.5 times more likely to test positive for infection with one of the HPV strains that raise cancer risk, said study leader Kim Creek.

“the African-American women weren’t clearing the virus as fast,’’ he said. “they were actually holding onto it about six months longer,’’ for 18 months versus 12 months for white women. ten percent of black women had abnormal Pap tests versus 6 percent of whites.

Two years after initial infections were found, 56 percent of black women were still infected but only 24 percent of white women remained infected.

The government’s National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities sponsored the study.

Menopause Symptom (medicalhealthadvice.org)

New research is unveiling previously unknown benefits behind the most common symptoms of menopause such as fiery hot flashes.

It was discovered that the uncomfortable rushes of warmth (hot flashes), may actually reduce a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer by up to 50 percent, as researchers at Seattle’s Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center conducted their study.

Scientists published their results on the online journal named Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention, under the January 26 edition.

Dr. Christopher I.Li, lead author, said that they were aware of the role hormones played in calculating breast cancer risk, also, they knew the kind of hormonal changes women went through as they advanced through menopause. Dr. Li went on to state that, were their findings conclusive, it would represent a glimmer of hope for women experiencing menopausal symptoms, as these often affect their quality of life.

The study was performed on a group of 1,437 postmenopausal women, of whom 988 had been diagnosed as having breast cancer. They were queried on various points including night-sweats, hot flashes, insomnia, vaginal dryness, heavy menstrual bleeding and depression or anxiety. The women’s ages ranged between 55 and 74.

Compared to women with no menopausal symptoms, the researchers found that women experiencing hot flashes had, on average, a 50 percent lower risk of developing the most common type of breast cancer: invasive ductal and lobular carcinomas. Ironically, the women who suffered from the most severe hot flashes (the kind that woke some women up in the night) had the lowest risk of breast cancer.

Dr. Li commented on these results, stating that, although they weren’t planning on inducing menstrual symptoms to lower the risk of breast cancer, finding the underlying cause of the symptoms would therefore lead them to a new, better understanding, that in turn would help create better prevention strategies.

The results held firm as they were tested against existing knowledge in the realm of hormone treatments for women who suffered from breast cancer. for example, it was found to be true (taking into account such variables as weight) after being compared to another major study performed in the U.S, in which Hormone Replacement Treatment was stopped after it was discovered that treating women with estrogen and progestin hormones greatly increased their risk of developing cancer, as well as intensifying menopausal symptoms. Because these two hormones were found to play a big role in the development of breast cancer, Dr. Li noted that reducing the levels of these could help prevent the disease. Dr. Li also said that treatment based on hormones alone would not be effective in fighting cancer, also, more research was needed before hormonal treatment could be widely used.

In the United States alone, breast cancer is the second biggest cause of death among cancer sufferers, claiming almost 500,000 lives every year. many aspects of the disease are not subject to prevention, factors such as genetics or race, although regular screening after the age of 40 is a crucial step in catching the disease in its infancy. Also, it’s been concluded, that simple dietary changes, such as adding a few tablespoons of olive oil to daily cooking, can reduce the risk of all types of cancer by a great deal. Read this article to find out more about olive oil benefits.

Finally, if you are experiencing menopausal symptoms, such as hot flashes, don’t worry. The silver lining of this cloud could be your “partial immunity” to breast cancer. for more information about menopause, symptoms, medication and home remedies, please visit this link. Additionally, for more news on health, especially the development of new cancer treatments and discoveries, visit Metrolic for daily updates.

ScienceDaily (Jan. 18, 2011) — Many risk factors for breast cancer are well studied and documented. thus, scientists are sure by now that early first menstrual period, late onset of menopause and a family history of breast cancer are associated with an increased breast cancer risk.

However, neither an individual woman nor medicine can influence whether family members develop breast cancer or at what age menopause starts — these are risk factors on which we have no influence. Scientists of the German Cancer Research Center in the team of Associate Professor (PD) Dr. Karen Steindorf and Professor Dr. Jenny Chang-Claude, jointly with Professor Dr. Dieter Flesch-Janys of Hamburg Eppendorf University Hospitals, have been searching for risk factors which can be influenced by changes in lifestyle and behavior.

"58,000 women in Germany are diagnosed with breast cancer each year," says Jenny Chang-Claude."therefore, a key question is whether there are behavioral changes that might help to lower the disease risk. our study aims to determine the percentage of cases where these avoidable risk factors are responsible."

The researchers focused on aspects such as taking hormones for relief of menopausal symptoms (hormone replacement therapy), physical activity, overweight and alcohol consumption. All these lifestyle factors have been identified in prior studies as possible risk factors for the development of breast cancer.

In their current MARIE study, which is supported by Deutsche Krebshilfe (German Cancer Aid), the epidemiologists studied 6,386 female controls along with 3,074 patients who had been diagnosed with breast cancer after the onset of menopause. On the basis of these data, the scientists calculated the percentage of cancer cases that is attributable to a particular risk factor (or a particular combination of several risk factors).

Of the modifiable lifestyle factors, it is primarily hormone replacement therapy and a lack of physical activity which increase a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer. Alcohol consumption and overweight were found to have less influence on breast cancer risk. thus, 19.4 percent of invasive postmenopausal breast cancer are attributed to hormone replacement therapy; 12.8 percent to a lack of physical activity. Both factors together are responsible for 29.8 percent of breast cancer cases. When the investigators took a separate look at the group of patients whose tumors have receptors for sex hormones (hormone receptor-positive breast tumors), they determined an even higher value of 37.9 percent. The study leaders emphasize that these results reflect the situation in Germany with our typical lifestyle and may differ in countries with other lifestyles.

Non-modifiable factors such as family history or age at first and last menstrual period account for 37.2 percent in total of all malignant postmenopausal breast cancers. "that means that two factors which each woman has in her own hands are responsible for a similar number of postmenopausal breast cancer cases as the non-modifiable factors," Karen Steindorf says. "if behavioral changes in these two areas could be brought about, almost 30 percent of breast cancers after menopause could be prevented." therefore, the DKFZ researchers recommend women to take more exercise and to refrain from hormone replacement therapy, unless it is absolutely necessary.

Email or share this story:

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Journal Reference:

1. Benjamin B.E. Barnes, Karen Steindorf, Rebecca Hein, Dieter Flesch-Janys, Jenny Chang-Claude. Population attributable risk of invasive postmenopausal breast cancer and breast cancer subtypes for modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors. Cancer Epidemiology, 2010; DOI: 10.1016/j.canep.2010.11.003

Note: if no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: this article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.