HRT ‘can raise breast cancer risk' in younger women
An international team of researchers found the treatment was not linked to young onset breast cancer overall.
But oestrogen plus progestin therapy appears to increase breast cancer risk by 10 per cent.
Meanwhile, oestrogen hormone therapy use appeared to decrease breast cancer risk by 14 per cent.
Hormone replacement therapy is a treatment used to help menopause symptoms.
There are different types of HRT, which is used to treat menopause symptoms, available.
They contain different hormones: some are oestrogen products; others contain progestogen and other types have both.
These medicines can be taken or used in different ways and work by replacing the hormones oestrogen and progesterone, which can fall to lower levels as women approach the menopause.
Most studies examining links between hormone therapy and breast cancer risk have been explored in older women.
Previous work, which has focused on women who have already been through the menopause, suggest that oestrogen plus progestin hormone therapy is a risk factor for breast cancer.
The researchers, led by academics from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in the US, wanted to explore the risks among younger women on hormone therapy – who may take these drugs after gynaecological surgery or during perimenopause.
The new meta-analysis published in the journal, Lancet Oncology, examined data drawn from previous studies of 459,476 women aged 16 to 54 years old.
Some two per cent of this group (8,455) developed young-onset breast cancer, which means the disease was diagnosed before they were 55 years old.
And 15 per cent of women involved in the study reported using hormone therapy, with oestrogen plus progestin hormone therapy and oestrogen being the most common types.
'Although the strength of these associations might vary by age at first use, duration of use, gynaecological surgery status, and other factors, unopposed oestrogen hormone therapy use appears to decrease breast cancer risk and oestrogen plus progestin therapy appears to increase breast cancer risk,' the authors wrote.
'The findings can be used to augment clinical recommendations for hormone therapy use in young women, for whom guidance was previously scarce.'
Dr Kotryna Temcinaite, the head of research communications at Breast Cancer Now, said: 'These results are largely in line with what we already know about taking HRT for menopausal symptoms and its effects on breast cancer risk – for most people, the risk of developing breast cancer because of taking HRT is small and is outweighed by the benefits.
'Taking HRT is a very personal decision and, as such, it's vital that everyone has the information they need on the benefits and risks, discusses them with their GP or specialist team and is supported to make the choice that's right for them.'
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