NEW YORK, March 4 (UPI) -- Hormone therapy has been linked to a higher risk for women who develop colorectal cancer while on the treatment, a new research report says.
Hormone therapy earlier was linked earlier to higher risk of heart disease, breast cancer and stroke, the Wall Street Journal said. The study, published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine, confirmed those earlier findings.
Researchers say postmenopausal women who get colorectal cancer while on hormone therapy were diagnosed at a later -- and potentially more deadly -- stage of the disease than women not receiving the combination estrogen-progestin treatment.
The report said all of the results stem from the Women's Health Initiative, a program that followed 16,000 women who were taking a pill combining estrogen and progestin.
From the newest report, researchers conclude women on combination hormone-replacement therapy, which is used to mitigate symptoms of menopause, might benefit from routine bowel screening for earlier detection of colorectal cancer.
