– Women must understand the risks it entails and ask themselves: “What is important to me in life?” says senior researcher Paula Berstad at the Norwegian Cancer Registry. Just under 4,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer in Norway each year. The Norwegian Cancer Registry has estimated that around 200 of the cases are due to hormone therapy during menopause. – This is approximately 5 per cent of all new breast cancer cases, says Berstad. It is exactly the same number as the use of alcohol. – Yes. Alcohol gives the same risk of breast cancer as estrogen use, says Berstad. Paula Berstad is a researcher at the Norwegian Cancer Registry. She says there are many steps women can take to minimize the cancer risk. Photo: Privat Berstad also believes that the figures for breast cancer as a result of alcohol use are greater than the data indicate. – It is quite common for many people to underreport how much they drink. Therefore, we would like to believe that the breast cancer risk caused by alcohol is probably greater than what we see in our calculations, she says. – In addition, alcohol increases the risk of other types of cancer, such as cancer of the oral cavity, pharynx, colon and rectum, oesophagus, liver and stomach, she points out. Was alarmed The use of estrogen for menopausal symptoms has been debated since the large Women’s Health Initiative study became known in the early 2000s. The study from the USA concluded that estrogen was dangerous and could cause breast cancer, blood clots and stroke. This led to overnight sales plummeting. Since then, the numbers have been very low compared to what was seen before 2002. news recently wrote about how many doctors are still skeptical about giving estrogen to women. A skepticism attributed to the report from 20 years ago. – This stuck like a nail in the population, and it still sticks, says gynecologist Jorun Thørring. Live healthier The female menopause normally occurs between the ages of 40 and 60. The symptoms can vary from woman to woman. This can, for example, involve frequent hot flashes, joint pain, low mood, mood swings, lack of sleep, reduced sex drive and abdominal complaints. Some are so severely affected that it affects their quality of life. Estrogen treatment Estrogens are a general term for substances that act like female sex hormones. The purpose of hormone therapy is to replace the falling estrogen level in the body. The most common treatment is a combination of estrogen and progesterone. Hormone treatment has a good effect on complaints during menopause, such as hot flashes, sleep difficulties and abdominal complaints. Estrogen treatment also reduces the risk of osteoporosis. Due to the risk of serious side effects, this medicine is not prescribed for long-term use. Source: Health Norway and Store norske lexikon. Berstad in the Cancer Registry says that women who want to use oestrogen, but at the same time are afraid of getting breast cancer, can consider living healthier in other areas to equalize the risk. – Like drinking less and maybe starting to exercise. Being overweight is a clear risk factor for breast cancer after menopause, says Berstad. Warns against safety bias Senior doctor at the cancer department at the University Hospital in Northern Norway, Egil Blix, warns against taking estrogen use too lightly. He is concerned that, after many years of restrictive use of oestrogen, they will now be splurging on hormone preparations for menopausal women. – The risk of cancer is significant, and I think one should be careful not to be too confident in this debate, says the oncologist. Senior doctor at the cancer department at the University Hospital in Northern Norway, Egil Blix. Photo: Per-Christian Johansen / Universitetssykehuset Nord-Norge A research report published in The Lancet in 2019 shows that the risk of breast cancer increases by one case per 50 users for women who use estrogen for up to five years. If you use estrogen for more than five years, the risk increases. These are numbers Blix believes should not be underestimated. – Since 1990, there have been 20 million cases of breast cancer worldwide, and 1 million are due to hormone use, he says. Older women Ole-Erik Iversen is professor emeritus at the University of Bergen and has researched women’s health for 35 years. He believes the figures must be seen in the light of which women the studies were conducted on. – The Women’s Health Initiative has published many sub-studies which have all shown that women who started hormone therapy before the age of 60 had a different risk profile than the study group of women aged 60-79, says Iversen. Iversen believes that the figures are quite clear that the older the women are, the greater the chance that they would have developed breast cancer anyway. Ole-Erik Iversen has researched women’s health for 35 years. He believes that more women should receive estrogen than is the case today. Photo: Haukeland University Hospital He refers to the figures for women aged between 50 and 59. Here, six extra cases of breast cancer and five extra cases of stroke were seen per 10,000 women in the group treated with estrogen. – So it was about very small risk estimates, says Iversen. Age is the most important risk factor for cancer, and then also breast cancer, confirms Berstad in the Cancer Registry. – Women in their 70s are more than 10 per cent more likely to get breast cancer than women in their 50s, says the senior researcher. Better sleep and better sex Iversen says that, in sum, you see a reduced mortality with the use of estrogen when the treatment starts at the age of 45-50. – The benefits of estrogen have been little promoted in the media. As estrogen leads to a lower incidence of osteoporosis, colon cancer and diabetes, he says. Iversen also believes that people have completely forgotten to take into account the increased quality of life estrogen has contributed to in many women, such as better sleep and a better sex life. Cancer doctor Egil Blix does not want to moralize about women who choose to use oestrogen. – Some ladies have significant problems that can be remedied by hormone supplements. Then you have to sit down and think carefully through both the advantages and disadvantages, says Blix. He, too, is aware that you can take steps yourself to equalize the overall risk of breast cancer. – I’m not saying that people should be abstinent, but those who drink wine with their food every day can think twice. The same applies to exercise. There is a lot to be gained from being physically active here, says Blix.
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Alcohol gives the same risk of breast cancer as estrogen, says cancer researcher – news Troms and Finnmark
