Hormone pills linked to cancer

Taking menopause hormones for five years doubles the risk for breast cancer, according to a new analysis of a big federal study that reveals the most dramatic evidence yet of the dangers of these popular pills.

Even women who took estrogen and progestin pills for just a couple of years had a greater chance of getting cancer. But when they stopped, their odds quickly improved, returning to a normal risk level about two years later.

Collectively, these new findings are likely to end any doubt that the risks outweigh the benefits for most women.

Breast cancer rates plunged in recent years mainly because millions of women quit hormone therapy and fewer newly menopausal women started on it, said the study’s leader, Dr. Rowan Chlebowski of Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance.

“It’s an excellent message for women: You can still diminish risk [by quitting], even if you’ve been on hormones for a long time,” said Dr. Claudine Isaacs of Georgetown University’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. “It’s not like smoking, where you have to wait 10 or 15 years for the risk to come down.”

Study results, given Saturday at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, are from the Women’s Health Initiative, which tested estrogen and progestin pills. A future analysis will look at other women in the study who took only estrogen.