The Women’s Health Initiative study has been important in defining the safety of HRT for women
Re-analysis of a large study showed, reassuringly, that there is no increased risk of breast cancer even with long-term use of oestrogen-only HRT for women without a uterus.
“The big study that has been important in defining the safety of HRT in women is the Women’s Health Initiative,” Professor Peter Ebeling, medical director of Osteoporosis Australia, says in the following video.
[media_embed]https://player.vimeo.com/video/180129111[/media_embed]
The 13-year study followed more than 16,600 women with an intact uterus who received combined hormone therapy and over 10,700 women with a prior hysterectomy who received oestrogen-only therapy.
The analysis, published in JAMA Oncology in 2015, found an increased risk of breast cancer in women using combined HRT, which appears at about five years of therapy.
