Endocrine cancer risks for women during the perimenopause and beyond

Cancer and its link to reproductive hormones is an area of intense concern for our patients and has been the subject of much speculation. But if estro gen causes breast cancer, for example, most women would eventually develop the disease. We know this is not the case! Actually, estrogen and progester one have been linked to a decrease as well as an increase in cancer, depend ing upon the type of tumor under investigation. The purpose of this manuscr ipt is to review the data supporting those relationships.