Researchers claim that an analysis of patients’ treatment records at a large HMO indicate that reduced use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) may be the cause behind declining breast cancer rates.
They pointed out that, as some studies suggest, this decline is not due to reduced use of mammography.
The research indicates that one of the main causes of the decline is due to the reduction in post menopausal hormone therapy in 2003, in response to results of Women’s Health Initiative that linked breast cancer to hormone replacement therapy.
Growth of small tumors slows down when hormone replacement therapy is discontinued delaying discovery by almost two years. With the number of post menopausal estrogen and progestin prescriptions reduced to almost half, cancer rates have dropped by 7% in the year 2003.
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