Breast cancer incidence drops in U.S.(Health News in Brief)(Brief article)

The incidence of breast cancer in postmenopausal women has been decreasing since 2002, probably because so many women have given up hormone therapy, say researchers who assessed the follow-up data from the Women's Health Initiative. This is the landmark trial that was that stopped early in 2002 because the women taking the combination estrogen plus progestin showed a higher incidence of heart disease, stroke, and breast cancer than the women taking placebos. Many of them stopped taking hormones immediately, and all were followed up until 2005.

The authors of this report said they are fairly confident that the falling breast cancer incidence was caused by the decreased use of hormones, not by the other opt-proposed possibility--the drop in the number of American women going for screening mammograms. One question remains: Why did the decline in breast cancer incidence occur so rapidly after the trial was stopped? The authors speculate that some of the tiny "pre-clinical cancers" found during mammography spontaneously regressed once women stop taking hormones.

N Engl J Med 2009;360:573-87

Maryann Napoli, Center for Medical Consumers[c] 2009

Print Get the Mag Weekly Updates