WOMANS HEALTH NEWS
May 30, 2001

WOMEN'S HEALTH NEWS

This section will feature news concerning women's health taken from contemporary professional literature as reviewed by Dr. Marlow.

Continuous HRT and Risk of Endometrial Cancer: This study in Washington state compared the use of daily estrogen and progesterone with estrogen alone and intermittent use of progesterone. A total of 2294 women were included in the study. Nine hundred and sixty nine women used daily estrogen and progesterone for several years and had a relative risk of developing endometrial cancer of 0.6 (the incidence of cancer in this group was reduced by almost 50%) compared to women who had never received hormone therapy. Women using progesterone for 10-24 days each month had a relative risk of 0.4. Hill DA, et al. Continuous combined hormone replacement therapy and the risk of endometrial cancer. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2000:183:1456-61

(This suggests that both therapies are effective in preventing endometrial cancer) Dr. Marlow.

Fecal Occult-Blood Screening for Colorectal Cancer. This study from Minnesota included 46,551 patients followed for 18 years. New cases of colon rectal cancer were diagnosed in 1359 patients. The authors concluded that fecal occult-blood screening reduced the incidence of colorectal cancer by identifying and removing precursor lesions. Mandel JS, et al . The effects of fecal occult-blood screening on the incidence of colorectal cancer. N Engl J Med 2000;343:1603-7

(Fecal occult-blood screening is a routine part of our laboratory tests for patients over 50 years of age) Dr. Marlow