Ovarian cancer risk heightened by hormone drugs

Menopausal women who take hormone replacement therapy boost the risk of ovarian cancer by 40 percent, even if they take the treatment only for a few years, a study says.

The probe marks the widest analysis of the risk of ovarian cancer from HRT, a treatment whose use declined when its safety was questioned a dozen years ago.

Researchers publishing in The Lancet on Friday carried out an overview of 52 published studies, covering nearly 21,500 women in Australia, North America and Europe who had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

An outside commentator, Rod Baber, a professor of gynaecology at the University of Sydney and president of the International Menopause Society, said the study had brought much-needed clarity.

Previous studies have found either a significant increase in cancer probability, or none at all.

In absolute terms, though, the risk for women using HRT "is very, very low", Baber cautioned.

The disease has been dubbed a "silent killer" as it is often spotted too late.

"For women who take HRT for five years from around age 50, there will be about one extra ovarian cancer for every 1000 users, and one extra ovarian cancer death for every 1700 users," said Richard Peto, a University of Oxford professor who co-authored the study.

HRT uses the female hormones oestrogen or progestogen, sometimes combined, to ease menopausal symptoms such as hot flushes, vaginal dryness and lack of sex drive.

The increased risk was the same in both types of treatment.

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Ovarian cancer risk heightened by hormone drugs