The Sunday Times
Now we know: HRT is not the cure-all for ageing that women hoped
The latest study on the link between hormone replacement therapy and breast cancer delivers worrying news for the million UK women who are using HRT: the risk is double what was previously thought, continuing for some 10 years after the treatment is stopped. Sir Richard Peto, professor of medical statistics and epidemiology at Oxford University, said that he could now be certain that HRT was the cause of about 5% of breast cancers.
That doesn’t mean, of course, that doctors should stop prescribing HRT to women who have debilitating menopausal symptoms such as insomnia or depression. But they should certainly look more closely at whether the likely benefit to each patient outweighs the risks.
For women, at least such information will be easier to find…