(ChemotherapyAdvisor) – The North American Menopause Society (NAMS) has published a 2012 position statement that provides updated evidence for use of hormone therapy for postmenopausal women. Further distinguished since the 2010 statement was published are emerging differences in the therapeutic benefit-risk ratio between estrogen therapy and combined estrogen-progestogen therapy at various ages and time intervals since menopause onset.
For example, “the more favorable benefit-risk ratio for estrogen therapy allows more flexibility in extending the duration of use compared with combined estrogen-progestogen therapy, where the earlier appearance of increased breast-cancer risk precludes a recommendation for use beyond three to five years,” the statement notes.
The position statement reviews effects of hormone therapy on many aspects of women’s health and includes a discussion of endometrial, lung, and ovarian cancer.
