Estrogen Therapy Reduces Breast Cancer Risk After Hysterectomy: True or False? – EmpowHer

What do you believe? Are you prepared to open your mind to new facts? Cognitive psychologists tell us that most people cling to what they already believe and are so averse to changing their minds that new facts only make them cling to their old beliefs even MORE stubbornly. So, are you prepared to open your mind?

As of 2016, millions of women do not believe that estrogen therapy reduces breast cancer risk. In fact, they feel sure that it increases the risk. But new research confirms lots of old research. The answer to the question in the title is TRUE.

Why do so many women hold mistaken beliefs about estrogen, mistakes that cause them to avoid taking estrogen when it is such a beneficial hormone and could save their lives? There are three main sources of misinformation:

1) Misunderstood findings from the Womens Health Initiative (WHI), a large study released in 2002. 2) Misunderstanding estrogen therapy for women who've had a hysterectomy versus those who haven't. 3) Misunderstanding anti-estrogen treatments for breast cancer.

EmpowHER has previously focused on how so many people were misled by reports of the WHI findings, so we will only briefly discuss it here.

The WHI was really two studies. The first to be reported was the study of women who had a natural menopause and still had a uterus. These women needed to take estrogen PLUS a second progesterone-like hormone to protect the uterus from developing cancer. The hormone chosen by the WHI is called Prempro and the progesterone in this pill is unusually powerful at suppressing the effects of estrogen including all the good effects.

There are many forms of menopausal hormone therapy on the market and the findings for Prempro do not apply to other forms. But the media did not realize or report this fact. When it was found that women using Prempro were at greater risk for heart attacks, strokes and breast cancer, people panicked and abandoned any and all forms of menopausal hormone therapy. They threw out the baby with the bath water.

1) Estrogen Avoidance Linked to Deaths of 50,000 Women. EmpowHER. http://www.empowher.com/menopause/content/estrogen-avoidance-linked-deaths-50000-women

2) Sarrel, Philip et al. The Mortality Toll of Estrogen Avoidance AmerJPublicHealth 2013;103:1583-1588. http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.2013.301295

3) Jordan VC, Ford LG. Paradoxical clinical effect of estrogen on breast cancer risk: A new biology of estrogen-induced apoptosis. Cancer Prev Res 2011; 4(5):633-637.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3100896

4) Chlebowski RT, Anderson GL. Changing Concepts: Menopausal Hormone Therapy and Breast Cancer.JNatlCancerInst. 2012:104:517-527. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4406918

5) Manson, J. E. MD, DrPH, Chlebowski, R. T. MD; Stefanick, M, L. PhD; et al. Menopausal Hormone Therapy and Health Outcomes During the Intervention and Extended Poststopping Phases of the Womens Health Initiative Randomized Trials. JAMA. 2013;310(13):1353-1368. doi:10.1001/jama.2013.278040 http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/1745676

We value and respect our HERWriters' experiences, but everyone is different. Many of our writers are speaking from personal experience, and what's worked for them may not work for you. Their articles are not a substitute for medical advice, although we hope you can gain knowledge from their insight.

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Estrogen Therapy Reduces Breast Cancer Risk After Hysterectomy: True or False? - EmpowHer