Progesterone

Progesterone is a hormone that is normally found in women and it reaches particularly high levels during pregnancy. Progestins are synthetic drugs that mimic the biological actions of progesterone and they have been widely prescribed to women.

Progesterone, progestins and breast cancer

The Wikipedia articles on breast cancer and progestins do not mention that breast cancer rates appear to be increased by progestin use. Wikipedia articles for the Women's Health Initiative and Hormone replacement therapy do mention some of the clinical trial results that link progestin use to increased breast cancer risk. The Wikipedia article on Bioidentical hormone replacement therapy raises the question: might progesterone use pose less breast cancer risk than use of synthetic progestins?

Why are progestins so widely prescribed?

Progestins are widely used by both younger women and older women. Younger women of reproductive age often use progestins for hormonal contraception. Older women have frequently been prescribed combinations of estogen and progestins as Hormone replacement therapy when endogenous levels of estrogen decline. Combined estrogen and progestin administration is used to limit the incidence of estrogen supplement-induced endometrial cancer.

News reports

This is a running list of news reports related to progestrone, progestins and related health issues such as breast cancer.

Lawsuits

October 30, 2007. "Wyeth is facing more than 5,000 lawsuits from those who believe they were harmed by the hormone replacement drugs, which have been used by millions of women to control the effects of menopause." Wyeth is the manufacturer of Premarin and Prepro, a mixture of medroxyprogesterone and Premarin. The Women's Health Initiative estrogen-plus-progestin study reported an increased rate of breast cancer for women using Prempro.