Study Shows HRT For Postmenopausal Women May Decrease The Risk Of Pancreatic Cancer

Dr. Gino Tutera

A recent study found that one type of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for postmenopausal women may decrease the risk of pancreatic cancer. In the study, women from California who took estrogen-only HRT for symptoms of menopause were 41 percent less likely to develop pancreatic cancer over a 14-year period than women who never took hormone replacement therapy.

Generally, estrogen-only hormone therapy is only provided to women who have had their uterus removed, therefore, most therapies have a combination of hormones including ones like progestin. The study found associations, and cannot prove that estrogen in hormone replacement therapy actually causes an increase or decrease in pancreatic cancer risk. In addition, pancreatic cancer is rare, so the risk of any woman in the study developing the condition was small.

About the Study: The new study involved more than 118,000 female public school professionals in California who were surveyed in 1995 to 1996 about their use of hormone replacement therapy and current or past use of oral contraceptives, and were followed until 2009. At the start of the study, 60 percent of the women were postmenopausal, 25 percent of whom were current users of estrogen-only HRT, and 33 percent of whom were current users of estrogen-plus-progestin HRT. During the study period, 323 women (0.27 percent) were diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Southern California, was published online Sept. 5 in the journal American Journal of Epidemiology.

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