Menopause Matters Forum
Menopause Discussion => All things menopause => Topic started by: Jeepers on October 29, 2020, 01:58:35 PM
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There is an article today, reporting that a recent research by Oxford university has found that taking hrt increases the risk of breast cancer by 80 per cent, and not the 31 per cent they reported in previous research.
I can’t see all of the article, but it says it’s mainly down to the progesterone.
It says it was published in the bmj
Has anyone read the whole thing.
?
Trying not to panic
Jeepers xx
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Don't panic. I couldn't be bothered to read it all >yawn< "newer figures based on 20 years of data ... " lost me. The article states the various types of HRT that we are offered but not the reasons why, it looks like they have slapped all HRT together, like we use it all at once. Wait to see what Dr Currie suggests?
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I read the Telegraph report, and became alarmed, and then read the mail on line report which had a completely different and positive headline. At that point I couldn’t be bothered to worry anymore. If there really were bad implications I’m sure it would be all over the media/BBC etc by now.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-8890949/Risk-breast-cancer-linked-receiving-HRT-menopause-lower-risk-previously-feared.html
I don’t know if the mail link above will work but just put HRT in their search box for today’s article.
Can’t post link to Telegraph report as it’s a subscription service but you can google the bmj report. x
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The advice would be do not stop HRT on the basis of a UK News Paper article! because in order to make headlines, they may well cherry pick what they want to be scary!!
Quality of Life is far more important than worrying ........
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Louise Newson has published a rebuttal on her website.
JP x
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Thanks all.
I'll check out Dr Newsons page.
It's been a tough time recently, aand I feel brittle, almost to breaking point, I need to just stop and breathe, rather than heap more onto myself
Jeepers xx
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It's a study. Who funded it? How old is the research, have they picked and choose old stuff to make a point?
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https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m3873
Here is the link to the study - it seems to be saying the usual things:
Small increase with hrt which its more for oestrogen+progestogen than oestrogen only, and dydrogesterone is better than norithisterone.
Obesity and alcohol show a bigger correlation with breast cancer and smoking is not good either.
Exercise is good for you.
:great:
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Saw this on GMB yesterday,r Hilary said not to worry,why do they keep changing their minds ? very worrying for people
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Usually with studies like this there is a comment from the British Menopause Society or Menopause Matters but I see they have not commented yet but the press release itself from the BMJ is easy to understand:
https://www.bmj.com/company/newsroom/study-provides-new-estimates-of-breast-cancer-risks-associated-with-hrt/
Like it says in the article this is an observational study rather than a trial and as such has limitations. As always unqualified statements such as reported in the press do not give the whole picture. As the report describes - the risk is different for long term vs short term use, current vs recent or past use, and with different regimes as well as different routes of administration ( transdermal vs oral).
The main limitation I see is that the study includes data from 1997-2018 and HRT use has changed dramatically in that time so on quick glance through I could not see any information about transdermal oestrogen and micronised progesterone so it's very much lumping a lot of data together from what I could make out. To me it would be more instructive to look at recent data and there are observational and trial data about the types of HRT more in use today ( can't lay my hands on them right now!).
The other most important point is that the press picks up on figures like "80% increased risk" which sounds alarming - but this is RELATIVE risk. You could say this means the risk is nearly twice as much (which would be 100%). However if the ABSOLUTE risk is low - to give an extreme example, say, an increase of 1 in a million to 2 in a million - then it is still negligible.
From what I can see this study does not alter the broad findings and understanding that there is an increaed risk with long term HRT use (but the absolute risk is still quite small) which depends amongst other things on type and route of HRT, type of progestogen and most importantly other lifestyle factors such as BMI, alcohol use etc. However I only had a quick look at it.
Hurdity x
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Agree Hurdity: The HRT is slapped together ....... headline grabbing.