|
Postmenopausal women who use estrogen
replacement therapy (ERT) for more than 10 years may be have
twice the risk
of dying from ovarian cancer as their peers who
did not take ERT.
Amazingly, even women who used estrogen
for 10 or more years but stopped taking it remained at risk
29 years later. The researchers followed nearly 212,000 women
for 14 years. About 22% had used ERT.
Using estrogen
for less than 10 years did not seem to increase ovarian cancer
risk.
Ovarian cancer is difficult to treat because
it is rarely found
in its early stages.
According to the American Cancer Society,
about 23,000
new cases of ovarian cancer are diagnosed annually,
and 14,000 women will die of the disease each year.
Ovarian cancer most often strikes women
aged 65 and older,
and in some cases the disease may have a genetic component.
Women with chronic inflammation of the pelvic area -- for
example, those who have endometriosis or pelvic inflammatory
disease -- may also have an increased risk of developing the
disease.
The Journal
of the American Medical Association March 21, 2001;285:1460-1465
| 