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Hormone therapy may not be associated with an increased risk for breast cancer in BRCA1 mutations
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Hormone therapy was associated with a decreased risk for breast cancer in women with a BRCA1 mutation, according to recently published data.
A matched, case-controlled study was conducted by researchers at the National Hospital in Oslo, Norway and other sites in the Netherlands, Canada, Italy, Israel and the United States, to determine the association between hormone therapy and the subsequent risk for breast cancer in women with a BRCA1 mutation.
The study included 472 postmenopausal women with a BRCA1 mutation and controls matched on the basis of age, age at menopause and type of menopause.
Participants with a BRCA1 mutation who had ever used hormone therapy had a lower risk for breast cancer, compared with those who never used hormone therapy (OR=0.58; P=.03). Participants with surgical and natural menopause had similar ORs for breast cancer (OR=0.48 and OR=0.68), though the number of surgical menopause participants was small (n=62 pairs).
The use of estrogen alone had an inverse relationship with breast cancer risk when the researchers conducted a hormone therapy type analysis (OR=0.51; P=.04). According to the researchers, the relationship between combined hormone therapy (estrogen plus progesterone) and breast cancer risk was not significant (OR=0.66; P=.21).
“It is important that these data be confirmed in other populations, including in women with BRCA2 mutations,” the researchers wrote.
J Natl Cancer Inst. 2008;100:1361-1367.