Breast Cancer Incidence Decreases - Cause is Controversial

Less Hormone Therapy or Less Mammograms?
The good news is that fewer new cases of breast cancer were diagnosed from 2000 - 2003, but the bad news is that fewer women are getting routine screening mammograms. The cause of the decline in breast cancer has been controversial - is it really fewer new cases, or fewer cases detected because of fewer mammograms? A new study did the math and found that HRT use was the real cause of the drop in breast cancer rates. "Our results suggest that a decline in postmenopausal hormone therapy use has contributed to the decline in breast cancer incidence in the United States and that the small decline in screening mammography observed in the United States is unlikely to explain the national declines in breast cancer incidence," said the authors in a paper published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

• Drop In Breast Cancer Incidence Linked To Hormone Use, Not Mammograms
• Estrogen-Fueled Breast Cancer Rates Fall 7 Percent