Ovarian cancer
- 10 Dec 2023
- 1 Minute to read
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Ovarian cancer
- Updated on 10 Dec 2023
- 1 Minute to read
- Print
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- The baseline population risk of ovarian cancer in people under 60 years is very low.
- NICE says that in people with ovaries, combined HRT and oestrogen only HRT very slightly increases the risk of ovarian cancer after 5 years of use, and this risk increases with duration of use.
- NICE says that although risk is increased overall, the risk is small in absolute terms, especially with the low baseline risk of ovarian cancer. The increase was 1 in 1000 people for combined HRT regimes and 2 in 1000 for oestrogen only HRT when used over 10 years.
- In summary, there may be a slight increase in the risk of developing some types of ovarian cancer associated with HRT use. However, this risk is small in both medical and statistical terms.
References and Further Information:
- National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Guideline. Menopause (update). Draft for consultation, Nov 2023.
- Hamoda H, Panay N, Pedder H et al. The British Menopause Society & Women’s Health Concern 2020 recommendations on hormone replacement therapy in menopausal women. Found on page 190-1. Post Reprod Health 2020.
- Baber R, Panay N, Fenton A and the IMS writing group. 2016 IMS recommendations on women’s midlife health and menopause hormone therapy. Climacteric. 2016. Found on page 127.
- Collaborative Group on Epidemiological Studies of Ovarian Cancer. Menopausal hormone use and ovarian cancer risk: individual participant meta-analysis of 52 epidemiological studies. Lancet 2015
- Liu Y, Ma L, Yang X, et al. Menopausal hormone replacement therapy and the risk of ovarian cancer: a meta-analysis. Frontiers in Endocrinology 10: 801. 2019.
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