HRT - Don't Panick, By Dr Allan Zimet, AMA Federal Treasurer and senior oncologist
There have been mixed messages in the media about how women should respond to stories from the United States about risks associated with certain types of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) treatment.
My advice is don't panic and see your doctor.
The majority of the estimated 600,000 Australian women who use HRT do so to treat menopausal symptoms such as hot flushes or vaginal dryness, and most use it only for the short term. In recent years women at risk of coronary disease have been put on the same treatment to prevent heart attacks and strokes.
This story is in the headlines because a US study of 16,000 women found there was a very small increased risk of breast cancer in women on HRT for an average of five years, which is a longer period of treatment than is usual in Australia.
To put the risk in perspective, if you take 10,000 women on HRT and compare them with 10,000 women who are not on HRT, eight extra women will develop breast cancer. So there is a risk - a big risk for those eight women - but a tiny risk when you consider the total female population on HRT. And the risk seems to come on after five years of treatment, rather than at thee years.
Another thing to consider is that the US trial was cancelled because the breast cancer risk was linked to a combined oestrogen/progestogen HRT treatment. Not all women are on that combined treatment. You must remember that women who've had their uterus out would be on oestrogen treatment alone - a treatment that is not subject to the alert coming out of the US.
So we need to review the data - examine the evidence carefully and responsibly - and look at each case individually.
The important thing is for women to review their own HRT treatment history - the type of treatment and length of treatment - then see their doctor if they have concerns. Above all, don't panic.