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."[1] 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.[2] The Food and Drug Administration now requires that the Women's Health Initiative results for breast cancer be provided to patients who use Prempro (Label).
Brest cancer incidence
December 15, 2006. Following the release of results from the WHI Prempro clinical trial (see above), "Within six months, the drug's sales had fallen by 50 percent." Breast cancer incidence also declined during this time: "The reason, researchers believe, may be that millions of women during that time abandoned hormone treatment for the symptoms of menopause"[3]
Epidemiological studies report that since women started to become aware of the risks associated with progestin use, decreases in incidence of breast cancer parallels the decline in progestin use, consistent with the known increased risk of breast cancer among women who use progestins.[4]
References
- ↑ Judge dismisses hormone case against Wyeth, Reuters, 30 October, 2007.
- ↑ "Risks and benefits of estrogen plus progestin in healthy postmenopausal women: principal results From the Women's Health Initiative randomized controlled trial" by J. E. Rossouw, G. L. Anderson and R.L. Prentice in Journal of the American Medical Association (2002) Volume 288, pages 321-333.
- ↑ Breast cancer rates drop 15% from August 2002 to December 2003 by Gina Kolata December 15, 2006, in International Herald Tribune.
- ↑ "Decline in breast cancer incidence due to removal of promoter: combination estrogen plus progestin" by G. A. Colditz in Breast Cancer Res. (2007) Volume 9, page 108.