Decline in HRT Use Linked to Drop in Breast Cancer

When millions of U.S. women tossed out their prescriptions for hormone replacement therapy in 2002, the rates of breast cancer started dropping almost immediately, U.S. researchers reported Wednesday.

Their findings coincided with an early-release report from the U.K. that showed women who took hormone replacement therapy (HRT) after menopause were 20 percent more likely to develop ovarian cancer or die from it than postmenopausal women who never took HRT.

The breast cancer report, published in the April 19 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, looked at the incidence of breast cancer both before and after the news broke from the long-term Women's Health Initiative (WHI) study that HRT might be more damaging than helpful to a woman's health. Between 2001 and 2004, it shows, the overall incidence of breast cancer went down by 8.6 percent in postmenopausal women.

"Overall, this is very encouraging news," said Dr. Julia Smith, director of the New York University Cancer Institute Breast Cancer Screening and Prevention Program in New York City.