Hormone Therapy and Breast Cancer

There is considerable uncertainty about the relationship between a woman's risk of developing breast cancer and the length of time that she receives hormone therapy. Some women take hormone therapy for only a few years, until the worst of their menopausal symptoms have passed, while others have taken it for a decade or more. Some researchers believe that there is little or no increased risk of breast cancer associated with short-term use of either hormone therapy with estrogen alone or estrogen combined with progestin, while long-term use is linked to an increased risk.