British Study of Hormone Replacement Therapy May Continue

A group of England's medical experts believe the controversial study of long-term use of hormone replacement therapy should continue in Britain despite the risk of heart disease and cancer, according to the Medical Research Council (MRC).

The Trial Steering Committee for the WISDOM (Women's International Study of Long Duration Oestrogen after Menopause) has recommended that the trial continue.

The group met recently to discuss the implications of the decision to halt a similar trial in the United States due to an increased risk of invasive breast cancer. (See earlier Breast Cancer Week story).

The committee was advised by an independent data monitoring and ethics committee that as long as women volunteering for the study were fully informed of all the known risks and benefits of HRT, including the results of the U.S. study, the U.K. study should continue.

The committee believes important questions about the balance of risks and benefits from taking long-term HRT are still to be answered, such as the role of the effects on vascular disease and on different types of cancer. Questions also remain as to how HRT effects dementia, cognitive decline, arthritis and other conditions that have a significant impact of the health of elderly women.

"The WISDOM study aims to answer important questions about the long-term risks and benefits of taking HRT and the results of the study could provide important information for generations of women to come," said Professor Rory Collins, Chair of the Trial Steering Committee.

"Until revised information has been prepared, and the MRC Council has made a decision, further women will not be recruited into the trial," added Collins. "But I hope very much that the women currently in the trial will wish to stay in it and that many more women will join in the future."

Other sources: Medical Research Council