breast tenderness is early warning

Women whose breasts became tender after taking hormone replacement therapy had nearly twice the risk of developing breast cancer than women whose breasts did not become tender on the drugs, U.S. researchers said yesterday.

They said breast tenderness may be a way to identify women who have a higher risk of developing breast cancer while taking hormone replacement therapy to treat menopause.

“We report that an increase in breast tenderness … identifies a population at particular risk for breast cancer,” Dr. Carolyn Crandall of the University of California Los Angeles and colleagues reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

The team analyzed data on more than 16,000 women who took estrogen-plus-progestin as part of the widely publicized Women’s Health Initiative or WHI study, which was halted in 2002 when researchers found healthy menopausal women who took the drugs were more likely to develop breast cancer.

Doctors now recommend hormone replacement therapy for women suffering severe menopause symptoms, but caution they should use the lowest dose possible for the shortest period of time.

Based on their analysis, researchers say women who had breast tenderness after taking the pills were at 48% higher risk of invasive breast cancer than other women who took hormone replacement therapy.

The Calgary Sun
Tue Oct 13 2009
Page: 25
Section: Lifestyle
Byline: BY JULIE STEENHUYSEN, REUTERS
Dateline: CHICAGO