A recent U.S. study has found that estrogen creams, often used to treat menopause symptoms, are not only safe for older women diagnosed with breast cancer but may also be linked with longer survival.
The research, presented at the ASCO meeting, found that the use of the hormone creams by postmenopausal breast cancer survivors was associated with a lower risk of disease progression, recurrence, or death, rather than an increased risk as had been feared.
These findings contradict previous concerns that such creams might stimulate breast cancer cells that use hormones to grow.
Vaginal estrogen creams are commonly used to treat menopause symptoms, including vaginal dryness, discomfort, and pain during intercourse. However, many breast cancer survivors avoid these products.
Researchers reviewed national database records on 18,620 female breast cancer patients aged 65 and older who were diagnosed between 2010-2017, including 800 who used vaginal estrogen creams.
After accounting for patients’ race, cancer stage, treatments and other factors, the researchers saw a statistically significant increase in overall survival among patients who used vaginal estrogen.
The cream users also had a significant increase in breast cancer-specific survival, the interval from diagnosis to death from breast cancer.
On average, estrogen cream users had a 47 per cent lower risk of dying from breast cancer and a 44 per cent lower risk of death from any cause during the study period, compared to non-users.
Even in patients whose tumours were known to use hormones for growth, estrogen cream use was associated with a 38 per cent lower risk of death from any cause.
Main symptoms of breast cancer in women
NHS
Symptoms of breast cancer in women may include:
- a lump, or swelling in your breast, chest or armpit
- a change in the skin of your breast, such as dimpling or redness
- a change in the size or shape of one or both breasts
- nipple discharge (if you are not pregnant or breastfeeding), which may have blood in it
- a change in the shape or look of your nipple, such as it turning inwards (inverted nipple) or a rash on it (may look like eczema)
- pain in your breast or armpit which does not go away
Estrogen cream users with hormone-positive breast cancer also had a lower risk of death from breast cancer, but that difference was not statistically significant.
Use of the creams for more than seven years appeared to confer an additional survival benefit.
“These findings add to a rising contemporary paradigm shift that local hormone therapy is not associated with increased risk to overall or breast cancer-specific survival, which has important clinical implications,” the researchers said.
