Message about hormone replacement therapy is unclear

doi:10.1136/bmj.325.7371.1036

BMJ 2002;325:1036 ( 2 November )

Letters

Message about hormone replacement therapy is unclear

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR $---$ Two contrasting leading articles followed publication of the randomised trial of the women's health initiative studyof hormone replacement therapy. ¹ ²

Stevenson and Whitehead in the BMJ said that the increased risk of breast cancer in the study was small, but they did notmention that during the study 42% of women taking active drugand 38% receiving placebo stopped the assigned treatment.¹

In contrast, Fletcher and Colditz reported in JAMA that the intention to treat analysis may have underestimated the true effects.In addition, if the duration of treatment is important as seemsto be the case with breast cancer and if compliance decreasesover time, then five year results may have underestimated thelong term treatment effects.²

Stevenson and Whitehead deduced that because the risk of breast cancer was not appreciably increased in the first few yearsof taking hormone replacement therapy, women wishing to take short. . . [Full text of this article]