Previous research has shown that hormone replacement therapy for menopausal women may increase the risk of stroke, heart attack, breast cancer, and even dementia. According to research presented last weekend at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, hormone therapy can also increase the risk of dying from lung cancer.

Researchers from the Harbor-U.C.L.A. Medical Center in California and their colleagues performed a new analysis of data from the Women’s Health Initiative study, looking specifically at the risk of lung cancer. They found that, although the rate of occurrence of non-small cell lung cancer was similar among both women who used hormone therapy and women who did not, women who took hormone replacement therapy had a statistically significant increased risk of lung cancer death. Women on hormone therapy who were diagnosed with lung cancer were more likely to die from the cancer than their non-hormone using peers, whether they had a history of smoking or not.

Dr. Roman Chlebowski, the lead author of the study, indicated that there was one avoidable lung cancer death over an eight-year period for every 100 women who both smoked and took hormone replacement therapy. Both patients and their health care providers should use this new data as a caution to not mix tobacco use with hormone therapy.

Source:

The New York Times online. May 30 200