The use of estrogen plus progestin
hormone therapy increased risk for lung cancer in
perimenopausal and postmenopausal women by about 25% when used for one to nine
years and by about 50% when used for 10 years or more.
“These findings may be helpful for informing women of their risk
for developing lung cancer and delineating important pathways involved in
hormone metabolism and lung cancer,” the researchers wrote.
Researchers pooled data on 36,588 perimenopausal and postmenopausal
women aged 50 to 76 years included in the Vitamins and Lifestyle Study between
2000 and 2002. Mean follow-up was 5.9 years.
Three hundred and forty-four lung cancer cases were identified: 77% were
non–small cell lung cancer cases, 12.5% were small-cell lung cancer cases
and 10.5% were other lung cancer cases.
Women who were current or former users of HT had a nonsignificant elevated risk for lung
cancer. However, use of estrogen plus progestin was associated with an
increased risk for lung cancer (HR=1.47; 95% CI, 1.06-2.04) compared with use
of no HT.
An increased risk for lung cancer was also found to be associated with
the duration of estrogen plus progestin use. After adjusting for smoking, age
and other variables, the HR for lung cancer was 1.48 for those who used the
combination for more than 10 years (95% CI, 1.03-2.12). However, there was no
association with duration of estrogen HT use.
In addition, the researchers also found that estrogen plus progestin use
(HR=1.52; 95% CI, 1.06-2.19) and duration were associated with more advanced
stages of disease at diagnosis.
Slatore CG. J Clin Oncol.
2010;10.1200/JCO.2009.25.9739.
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