Connect
MJA
MJA

Decrease in breast cancer incidence following a rapid fall in use of hormone replacement therapy in Australia

Graham G Giles, Richard Bell, Helen Farrugia and Vicky Thursfield
Med J Aust 2009; 190 (3): . || doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2009.tb02329.x
Published online: 2 February 2009

To the Editor: We question the conclusions drawn by Canfell and colleagues1 from their analysis of trends in hormone replacement therapy (HRT) prevalence and breast cancer incidence for Australian women aged 50 years or older. Their ecological analysis lacks individual-level information on HRT use and information on tumour oestrogen receptor (ER) status, and captures only 2 years following the decline in HRT prevalence. This is an inadequate design within which to judge issues of causality; it is at best an hypothesis-generating exercise.2


  • 1 Anti-Cancer Council of Victoria, Melbourne, VIC.
  • 2 Barwon Health, Andrew Love Cancer Centre, Geelong, VIC.



  • 1. Canfell K, Banks E, Moa AM, Beral V. Decrease in breast cancer incidence following a rapid fall in use of hormone replacement therapy in Australia. Med J Aust 2008; 188: 641-644. <eMJA full text> <MJA full text>
  • 2. Paul C. Hormone therapy and breast cancer incidence: did epidemiologists miss an effect on national trends [commentary]? Int J Epidemiol 2008; 37: 638-640.

Author

remove_circle_outline Delete Author
add_circle_outline Add Author

Comment
Do you have any competing interests to declare? *

I/we agree to assign copyright to the Medical Journal of Australia and agree to the Conditions of publication *
I/we agree to the Terms of use of the Medical Journal of Australia *
Email me when people comment on this article

Online responses are no longer available. Please refer to our instructions for authors page for more information.