Breast cancer in HRT users

✍ Scribed by Karin Schmidt-Gollwitzer; Kathrin Machens

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2005
• Tongue: French
• Weight: 33 KB
• Volume: 116
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0020-7136
• DOI: 10.1002/ijc.21141

✦ Synopsis

1

with interest. This large study (54,548 postmenopausal women and a total of 948 breast cancer cases) showed an increased RR for breast cancer in HRT users compared to nonusers. Estrogen-mono therapy and estrogens plus micronised progesterone were not associated with an increased RR for breast cancer.

However, the article raises some questions that need to be addressed. Using simple arithmetic, we found 372 breast cancer cases in women using HRT (Table IV). However, in total 948 breast cancer cases were reported, where are the other 576 missing cases? Were these cases in the nonusers cohort? If yes, how can the RR for breast cancer of 1.2 be explained (576 breast cancer cases in 25,128 nonusers vs. 372 breast cancer cases in 29,420 HRT users)?

Additionally, we would question whether it is appropriate to compare 2 study groups that have significant differences in all baseline characteristics (Table I). Could these differences