Caution urged over HRT safety fear

LONDON, England -- Health experts are urging European women not to abandon hormone replacement therapy (HRT) despite safety fears in the United States.

Researchers there halted an HRT trial among more than 16,000 post-menopausal women after five years when they found the treatment increased the risk of breast cancer by 26 percent, heart attacks by 29 percent, and strokes by 41 percent.

The risk of blood clots was also twice as high among those women aged 50 to 79 taking HRT compared to those unknowingly taking dummy pills in the trial, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association. (Full story)

But experts on Wednesday stressed the HRT treatments -- which are used to relieve menopausal symptoms and to prevent heart disease and brittle bones -- available in Europe were different from those in the U.S. and that women should not panic.

A spokesman for the UK industry-supported organisation HRT Aware told the Press Association: "The WHI results should not be applied to any HRT product other than the one investigated in the trial."

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Jacque Rossouw, acting director of the Women's Health Initiative, agreed. "It's not an urgent alert situation. There's no emergency here," he told the BBC.

Malcolm Whitehead, director of the Amarant Trust which provides help to menopausal women, said not every type of HRT had the same effect.

"This particular combination is not available here or in Europe, but similar ones are, and if you are having long-term treatment you should go to your doctor and talk about the risks and whether you should continue," he said.

Former Conservative Member of Parliament, Teresa Gorman, who is over 70, said she was a great fan of HRT and had recently been told by a doctor that she had the skeleton of a 15-year-old.

"This is a study of a particular type of HRT administration -- it wasn't all kinds of HRT. A five-year study is not a long study.

"It's absolute nonsense to scare women off this kind of treatment.

"My message to women is don't stop taking the tablets. There's massive evidence that the quality of life for women is much much greater when they are accessing this treatment.

"It's something with a proven track record and that's what matters to me and that's what should matter to other women."

Nevertheless health officials warned British women on Wednesday not to begin HRT treatment to combat coronary heart disease.

A spokeswoman for Britain's Department of Health said: "HRT should not be initiated for prevention of coronary heart disease. A small increase in the risk of breast cancer after five years of use of HRT has been known for some time."

The UK's Medicines Control Agency said product information was now being updated to warn prescribers and patients of potentially increased risk of breast cancer when taking combination HRT.