HORMONE REPLACEMENT TREATMENT AND BREAST-CANCER RISK - AN AGE-SPECIFIC ANALYSIS

The relationship between hormone replacement treatment (MT) and breast cancer risk was considered in age-specific groups of women, combining data from two case control studies conducted between 1983 and 1994 in six Italian centers, Cases were comprised of 5984 women, below age 75 years, with histologically confirmed breast cancer, and controls were comprised of 5504 women admitted to the hospital for a wide spectrum of acute, nonneoplastic, nonhormone-related diseases, Ever-use of MT w as reported by 6.1% of the cases and 5.5% of the controls, correspondi ng to a multivariate odds ratio (OR) of 1.2 [95% confidence interval ( CI), 1.0-1.4], A significant trend in risk with duration of use was ob served, Separate analysis for women <55, 55-64, and 65-74 years old at diagnosis showed that the excess risk of breast cancer associated wit h ever-use of MT was not observed in the youngest age group (OR, 0.9) and increased with age at diagnosis to 1.2 (95% CI, 0.9-1.5) for women 55-64 years old and 1.6 (95% CI, 1.2-2.3) for those 65-74 years old a t diagnosis, A significant trend in risk with duration was observed on ly in the oldest group (65-74 years old), with ORs of 1.6 (95% CI, 1.1 -2.3) and 2.2 (95% CI, 1.1-4.7), respectively, for <60 and greater tha n or equal to 60 months of use, Thus, this study suggests that the rel ationship between MT and breast cancer risk is influenced by age at di agnosis and that any risk-benefit assessment is particularly critical for women using MT several years after menopause.