Date of Award

2027

Document Type

Capstone

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Physician Assistant Studies

Committee Chair

Ashley Kernicky

Abstract

Introduction: Menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) is a widely used treatment for common symptoms that women experience through menopause and post-menopause, such as hot flashes, mood changes, sleep disturbances, low libido, night sweats, and weight fluctuations. The purpose of this literature review is to evaluate the association between MHT use and breast cancer risk.

Methods: A search was conducted through PubMed using the following key terms: “estrogen”, “progesterone”, “breast cancer”, and “menopause”. After filters were applied, the search was narrowed down to 33 final results. Of those results, 3 total articles were utilized in this literature review.

Results: Two articles directly compared estrogen-progesterone therapy (EPT) to estrogen therapy (ET) and the development of breast cancer. Another article did not differentiate between the type of MHT but evaluated MHT and its effects on breast cancer development as a whole. These findings suggest that patients and providers should consider which type of MHT is most appropriate when choosing options for menopausal and post-menopausal women. There is no current “standard protocol” for MHT, which can lead to potential confusion and difficulty when determining the best treatment option. Therefore, future studies should become more standardized in the regimens of MHT to provide universal results that various women and providers can utilize.

Conclusion: The studies yielded results that supported the association between MHT use and increased breast cancer risk, with 2 studies further determining that EPT contributes more to the development of breast cancer than ET.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

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