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A28 SCIENCE
Saturday 14 december 2019
Breast cancer risk from menopause hormones may last decades

By MARILYNN MARCHIONE Osborne, a Baylor College
AP Chief Medical Writer of Medicine breast cancer
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — expert.
Women who use certain Women are prescribed
types of hormones after hormones in combina-
menopause still have an in- tion because taking estro-
creased risk of developing gen alone raises the risk of
breast cancer nearly two uterine cancer. However,
decades after they stop one-quarter of women
taking the pills, long-term over 50 no longer have a
results from a big federal uterus and can take estro-
study suggest. gen alone for menopause
Although the risk is very symptoms.
small, doctors say a new So the same study tested
generation of women en- estrogen alone versus
tering menopause now dummy pills in more than
may not be aware of land- 10,000 such women, and
mark findings from 2002 the conclusion was op-
that tied higher breast posite what was seen with
cancer rates to hormone combination hormones.
pills combining estrogen Women on estrogen alone
and progestin. for seven years had a 23%
“The message is prob- lower risk of developing
ably not clear” that even breast cancer up to 19
short-term use may have years later. There were 231
lasting effects, said Dr. In this May 6, 2010 file photo, a radiologist checks mammograms in in Los Angeles. cases among them versus
Associated Press
Rowan Chlebowski of Har- 289 in the placebo group.
bor-UCLA Medical Center 16,000 women ages 50 to about two-thirds. menopause symptoms These results contradict
in Torrance, California. He 70 were given combina- With roughly 19 years of fol- may decide that the ben- what some observation-
discussed the new results tion hormone or dummy lowup, 572 breast cancers efits of the pills outweigh al studies have found,
Friday at the San Antonio pills for five to six years. have occurred in women their risks, doctors say. The though, and doctors do
Breast Cancer Symposium. The main part of the study on hormones versus 431 advice remains to use the not recommend any hor-
The results are from the was stopped in 2002 when among those on dummy lowest possible dose for mone use to try to prevent
Women’s Health Initiative, researchers surprisingly saw pills. That worked out to a the shortest time. disease because of the
a federally funded study more heart problems and 29% greater risk of devel- Why might hormones raise murky picture of risks and
that tested pills that doc- breast cancers among oping the disease for hor- breast risk? benefits.The federal study
tors long thought would hormone users. Women mone takers. “The hormones are stimu- only tested hormone pills;
help prevent heart dis- were advised to stop treat- Still, it was a difference of lating the cells to grow” getting hormones through
ease, bone loss and other ment but doctors have just 141 cases over many and it can take many years a patch or a vaginal ring
problems in women after continued to study them years, so women with se- for a tumor to form and be may not carry the same
menopause. More than and have information on vere hot flashes and other detected, said Dr. C. Kent risks or benefits.q

Boeing’s crew capsule declared

ready for 1st space flight

By MARCIA DUNN a Dec. 20 liftoff. just a mannequin named
AP Aerospace Writer “Hopefully, we should all Rosie. Three astronauts will
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. be getting an early Christ- strap in for the second test
(AP) — Boeing’s Starliner mas present this year,” flight of a Starliner some-
crew capsule finally has said Phil McAlister, direc- time next year.
a launch date for its first tor of NASA’s commercial SpaceX also plans to
test flight to the Interna- spaceflight development. launch astronauts for NASA
tional Space Station. Just a few technical issues next year. The company
After an intensive review remain to be completed, conducted a test flight
Thursday, NASA and Boe- he noted. without a crew back in
ing managers agreed to No one will be aboard, March.
NASA turned to the two In this Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2019 file photo, a Boeing Starliner
private companies in 2014 spacecraft sits on a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket at
to ferry astronauts to and Launch Complex 41 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
from the space station. in Cape Canaveral, Fla.
Whether Boeing or SpaceX, Associated Press
it will be the first time U.S.
astronauts rocket to orbit flight in July 2011. NASA as- the Starliner’s lift from
from home soil in nearly tronauts have been stuck Cape Canaveral, a little
nine years. riding Russian rockets in the before sunrise. The cap-
The longer-than-anticipat- interim. sule will parachute into
ed hiatus stretches back to United Launch Alliance’s New Mexico on Dec. 28
NASA’s last space shuttle Atlas V rocket will provide to close out the flight.q