There is a lot of concern about the two studies released recently regarding  post menopausal hormone therapy and a new understanding of the risks and benefits. There are two separate groups: One study looked at combination hormone therapy with premarin and medroxyprovera--Prempro. In this study it was found that there was a definite increase in breast cancer. This was thought to be  related to the Provera (medroxyprogesterone) component. It has not been proven or disproved whether other progestins will have similar increases but it anticipated that they will not. One of my consultants has said that other progestins like those in Activella, FemHrt, and OrthoPrefest are not likely to increase the risk of breast cancer. Estrogen may turn out to be either not a risk factor or even somewhat protective. Tamoxifen may even  prevent breast cancer because it acts like estrogen. The magnitude of the results was on the order of an increase from an expected 12 cases of breast cancer in 10,000 people to 20 cases. 

The second study looked at women who had had hysterectomy and were on only estrogen. They found a slight increase in ovarian cancer in the women taking estrogen.  The percentages were significant  statisticaly but the numbers were really small. As I understand the article they expected 5 cases of cancer in the study group and found 8, again this is per 10,000 people. This is a significant increase but in the thousands of people studied it is still a very small risk. 

The benefits of hormone therapy are also questioned in these studies. There is certainly an improvement in bone density, but this can be achieved with other medicines just as well. The improvement in heart disease was not proven but some authorities have questioned the presentation of the data. . The case for preventing colon cancer and Alzheimer's disease is not well established and there are conflicting studies. Estrogen therapy does prevent night sweats and hot flashes better than any other therapy. Some people will have improvement with soy, black cohosh, vitex, vitamin E and other things but the improvement is not nearly as good as with estrogen. 

Another more recent study suggests that people who have begun estrogen around menopause and continue will have a lower risk of heart disease and stroke but people who start estrogen after a number of years will have an increase. 

What to do?  Don't panic. It won't matter whether you stop the hormones or continue for another couple of months. The reports are still new and the implications and significance is still uncertain. We don't know if they will publish a retraction or a new study  in another month. Who knows? Make an appointment with your doctor  and discuss what hormone therapy has to offer you. Everyone's case and everyone's needs are different. We can work out a program that will help you.