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A Remaining Controversy?

Hans-Olov Adami, MD, PhD; Ingemar Persson, MD, PhD

JAMA. 1995;274(2):178-179.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

Ever since replacement hormones were introduced some 30 years ago, there has been concern regarding a possible adverse effect on breast cancer risk. More than 30 epidemiological studies have explored the relationship between exogenous hormones and breast cancer. Most of them were of case-control design,^1-3 while seven were prospective cohort studies.^4-10 Despite several attempts to summarize available evidence in overviews¹ and through meta-analyses,^2,3 there is still considerable uncertainty as to whether replacement hormones increase breast cancer risk. However, some recent studies indicate that long-term intake of conjugated estrogens or estradiol compounds is associated with a moderate risk increase.^6,8,11-13 The remaining controversy might be viewed as a shortcoming of the epidemiological method, ie, inability to clarify the role of a potential cause of breast cancer. According to a rival and more optimistic interpretation, the absence of unequivocal evidence for a risk-increasing effect of replacement hormones indicates . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
From the Departments of Cancer Epidemiology (Drs Adami and Persson) and Obstetrics and Gynaecology (Dr Persson), University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden, and Department of Epidemiology, Harvard University, Boston, Mass (Dr Adami).

Footnotes
Reprint requests to Department of Cancer Epidemiology, University Hospital, 5-751 85 Uppsala, Sweden (Dr Persson).

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