Google News
May 30, 2009
ORLANDO, Florida (AFP) — Hormonal therapy for menopause, already linked to an increase in breast cancer and strokes, also strongly increases the risk of death among women who develop lung cancer, said research released Saturday.
The findings are based on secondary analyses of a study of 16,608 menopausal women in good health by the US government known as the Women’s Health Initiative.
Researchers sought to evaluate the effects of Prempro, a combination of estrogen and progestin (a synthetic form of progesterone), sold by the US pharmaceutical Wyeth.
The analysis focused on the incidence of the most common form of lung cancer and its mortality rate over a period of nearly 5.5 years comparing women who followed the hormonal treatment and another group that took placebos.
There was no significant difference between the two groups in the rate of lung cancer, but the mortality rate after the diagnosis was two times higher among the women that were following hormonal therapy.
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