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BREAST CANCER RISK ASSOCIATED WITH HORMONE
REPLACEMENT THERAPY
In 1991, the National Institutes of Health began the first
and only large study comparing the effects of hormone replacement
therapy with placebos in healthy women. In July 2002, when
researchers concluded that the drugs estrogen and progestin
found in hormone replacement therapy had risks
that clearly outweighed the benefits, the study was halted.The
study was supposed to last until 2005, but was abruptly stopped
when instances of heart attack, stroke, and breast cancer
risk was associated with hormone replacement therapy. The
16,000 women participating in the hormone replacement therapy
study were immediately sent letters instructing them to discontinue
the use of the estrogen-progestin combination drug Prempro.
For many women, beginning menopause usually meant beginning
hormone replacement therapy, the combination of estrogen and
progestin that was believed to reduce the symptoms of menopause
and promote general well being. Hormone replacement therapy
has been prescribed as a common treatment for women who had
not had a hysterectomy for decades now, with over 70 million
prescriptions written for it every year. About 38% of women
post-menopausal have been estimated to be using hormone replacement
therapy.
Most women will have no problem stopping hormone replacement
therapy or have any reason to continue taking them for the
minimal symptoms they experience with menopause. The study
results led many to question how one of the most commonly
prescribed drugs had no previous studies performed indicating
the serious
health risks associated to the hormone replacement therapy.
Medical experts, prior to the study's results, encouraged
doctors to recommend almost every woman to use hormone replacement
therapy when menopausal for general well being. Wyeth's Prempro,
the top-selling drug for hormone replacement therapy and their
related product Premphase, generated more than $2 billion
in sales last year, and another estrogen replacement therapy
Premarin sales were $1.3 billion last year.
Hormone Replacement Therapy: Once
Fountain of Youth Now Risk Factor
For decades, women have been encouraged to use hormone replacement
therapy when reaching menopause. Six million American women
had been taking hormone replacement therapy before the announcement
that serious
hormone replacement therapy side effects can occur. The
study's hormone replacement therapy findings were scheduled
to be published in the July 17, 2002 Journal of the America
Medical Association but were released early because the impact
the estrogen-progestin combination could have on the high
number of women prescribed one of the most common hormone
replacment therapy treatments.
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About the WHI Hormone
Replacement Therapy Study
From the start, a safety board was to monitor the data of the
WHI, Women's Health Initiative, hormone replacement therapy
study in order to ensure the study be stopped prior to 2005
if evidence showed the risks of hormone replacement therapy
obviously outweighed the benefits. In late 1999, the monitoring
board had seen an unexpected increase in
risk of blood clots and heart attacks in the group of women
taking hormone replacement therapy. The results were shocking
because most doctors were under the impression that hormone
replacement therapy protected against cardiovascular disease.
While this evidence became available, the hormone replacement
therapy study still continued based on the reasoning that
cardiovascular benefits may take longer to appear. By spring
2002, the likelihood of heart attacks and blood clots in the
lungs and legs were present, but also an
increased risk of breast cancer surfaced for those taking
hormone replacement therapy. It was after that finding that
the hormone replacement therapy study was terminated, leaving
many women feeling "mystified and confused".
To
obtain more information on your legal rights contact us to
confer with a hormone replacement therapy attorney.
Estrogen Replacement Therapy Safe?
Although only one part of the study was halted for hormone
replacement therapy, the other part is still continuing on
estrogen taken alone. The researchers for the Women's Health
Initiative study have not yet evaluated the benefits and risks
of taking estrogen alone, so a second clinical trial of 11,000
women is being performed. However, women should remain wary
of any drug that has no scientific evidence showing the
long-term effects it can have on an individual's health.
Even though estrogen showed it improves a woman's cholesterol
many women with normal, healthy cholesterol levels still experience
heart attacks.
The hormone replacement therapy study findings were so surprising
to doctors that had gotten used to the common prescription
that they had not realized how little amount of evidence existed.
The hormone replacement therapy study was the first and only
large study comparing the effects
of hormone replacement therapy with placebos in healthy
women. Wyeth Pharmaceutical's estrogen replacement therapy,
Premarin had sales of $1.3 billion last year.
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About
Hormone Replacement Therapy
The hormone replacement therapy drugs, estrogen and progestin,
have also been shown to not defy age as was previously thought
. . . read
more
Hormone
Replacement Therapy Lawsuit
Wyeth, maker of the number one selling hormone replacement
therapy Prempro, has experienced a 24% stock tumble after
news that the large hormone replacement therapy study was
halted because of the risk of heart disease, breast cancer,
strokes, and blood clots found in healthy women on the estrogen/progestin
combination . . . read
more
Hormone
Replacement Therapy Side Effects
Many people are questioning why it took so long for the hormone
replacement therapy side effects to be discovered after millions
of women had been using the commonly prescribed hormone treatment
. . . read
more
Hormone
Replacement Therapy News
BREAKING NEWS!!
October 2, 2003
"Ovarian risk amongst combined Hormone Replacement Therapy
users" Women taking estrogen plus progestin were
diagnosed as having invasive ovarian cancer at a rate of 42
per 100,000 person-years in comparison to the 15 per 100,000
person-years in the placebo group. Read
More..
BREAKING NEWS!!
September 2003
"New Zealand Health Ministry to decide on Hormone Replacement
Therapy" Used by millions of women worldwide, recent
research has shown that Hormone Replacement Therapy may increase
risks of suffering breast cancer, strokes, blood clots, heart
disease, and dementia. Read More...
More Hormone Replacement Therapy
News...
Hormone
Replacement Therapy Alternatives
Hormone replacement therapy had become such a common prescription
that every year 70 million prescriptions were written for
hormone replacement therapy that doctors encouraged almost
every woman that had not had a hysterectomy to use when beginning
menopause . . . read
all the replacement alternatives
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