Hum. Reprod. Advance Access published online on January 29, 2004
Human Reproduction, doi:10.1093/humrep/deh112
© 2004 by European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology
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1 Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Free Universities of Brussels (VUB-ULB) CHU Saint-Pierre, Hoogstrasse 322, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: serge.rozenberg{at}skynet.be.
INTRODUCTION: Mortality due to breast cancer has been reported to be the same or even lower in HRT users than in non-users. This has been attributed to earlier diagnosis and to better prognosis. Nevertheless, more advanced disease in HRT users was reported recently by the Womens Health Initiative (WHI) study. The objective of this study was to assess, using a systematic review of current literature, whether the data of the WHI study are in contradiction to observational data. METHODS: We selected 25 studies, for which we evaluated the methodology, the characteristics of the studied populations, confounding breast cancer risk factors and prognostic indicators. RESULTS: The WHI study, showing a worsening of some prognostic parameters, is in contradiction to most published observational studies. Most observational studies are retrospective, not well matched and did not consider most confounding factors. Their methodology and selection criteria varied considerably and the number of patients was often small. No differences in the distributions of histology, grade or steroid receptors were observed in the WHI trial, while this was the case in some of the observational studies. Other parameters (S phase, protein Neu, Bcl-2 gene, protein p53 and E-cadherin, cathepsin D) were not reported in the WHI trial. CONCLUSIONS: In view of these data, the current clinical message to patients should be changed: one can no longer declare that breast cancers developed while using HRT are of better prognosis. Key words:
Key words: breast cancer/HRT/prognosis/systematic review
Revised October 2, 2003
Accepted November 10, 2003
Review
Influence of HRT on prognostic factors for breast cancer: a systematic review after the Womens Health Initiative trial
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