HRT Ups Death Risk for Women With Lung Cancer

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Smoking rates were similar in the two groups. Half of the participants were never smokers, 40 percent were past smokers, and only 10 percent currently smoked.

The risk of developing lung cancer was similar in both groups, but women taking the hormones were 61 percent more likely to die of lung cancer than women in the placebo arm (67 women died in the hormone group vs. 39 of those taking a placebo).

Over a period of almost eight years of treatment and follow-up, 3.4 percent of smokers taking hormone therapy who also developed lung cancer died of the disease, compared to 2.3 percent of smokers who were diagnosed with the illness but did not take HRT, the study found.

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"Median survival was 9.4 months versus 16.1 months in favor of the group that did not receive estrogen plus progestin," Chlebowski said.

The findings build on previous research that has hinted that estrogen might play a role in non-small cell lung cancer.

"Such a large trial helps to bring that information home and, especially in smokers, we know that there's an interaction between HRT, lung cancer and smoking from prior observational studies and pre-clinical studies," said Dr. Karen Reckamp, assistant professor of medicine at City of Hope Cancer Center in Duarte, Calif. "We see more and more non-smoking women getting lung cancer in general and often younger women. We know that there are estrogen receptors in the lung and in lung cancers and so there's definitely an interaction between the development of lung cancer and hormones."

More information

There's more on results from the Women's Health Initiative at the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

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