Hormone therapy reduces colon cancer in older women
The use of hormone therapy in older women helped lead to a significantly lower colorectal cancer risk with women who used the drugs having a 28% lower incidence rate than women who did not use the drugs.
A United States (US) Mayo Clinic-led study looked at possible links between estrogen exposure and colon cancer molecular subtypes to determine how the hormones might function in fighting the onset of cancer.
Dr David Limsui, of the Department of Gastroenterology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota, said that “in our large prospective study the use of hormone therapy seemed to be beneficial with respect to reducing colorectal cancer risk. Women who did use these drugs had a 28% lower incidence rate than women who did not use these drugs”.
Dr Limsui said that other studies had also found that hormone therapy protects post-menopausal women against colon cancer. In 2004, a study involving 16,000 women concluded that combination hormone therapy, with estrogen and progestin, reduced a woman’s risk of colorectal cancer by about 40%.
In the recent study women who reported using other hormone preparations such as oral contraceptive did not appear to derive any colorectal cancer prevention benefits. Dr Limsui said that “based on our findings we need to continue exploring the cancer pathways that might be affected by these hormones”.
The research was reported in the US Caregivers e-newsletter.
