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Study Ties Women's Cancer Risk, Hormone Therapy

Women who once had hormone replacement therapy may face an increased risk of cancer — especially breast cancer — several years after they stop the treatment. That finding comes from a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

In 2002, researchers stopped a study comparing women on hormone replacement therapy with those not on it because they found an increased risk of heart disease, stroke and certain cancers. As a result of those findings, most women immediately stopped HRT.

But researchers continued to examine their medical records, and now, after about three years, they have found that the women who stopped HRT remained at increased risk for cancer — especially breast cancer. On the other hand, their risk for heart disease decreased.

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