Hormone replacement therapy and risk of pancreatic cancer in postmenopausal women: Evidence from the US National...

Pancreatic cancer is a serious, usually fatal disease and one of the most aggressive malignancies. Research into whether hormone replacement therapy (HRT) might protect against pancreatic cancer has yielded mixed results. This study aimed to investigate the potential association between HRT and the risk of pancreatic cancer in postmenopausal women.

This population-based, retrospective study extracted data from the US National Inpatient Sample (NIS) 2008-2018. Hospitalized females aged ≥55 years were eligible for inclusion. Associations between HRT, other study variables, and pancreatic cancer diagnosis were determined using univariate and multivariable regression analyses.

After 1:4 matching by age, data of postmenopausal women with (n = 35,309) and without (n = 141,236) HRT were included in the analysis. The mean age was 73.4 years. Multivariable analyses showed that women with HRT had significantly decreased odds of pancreatic cancer (adjusted OR [aOR], 0.69, 95 % CI: 0.53-0.90). Compared to patients without HRT, patients with HRT in the 55-64-year-old group (aOR 0.48, 95 % CI: 0.32-0.74), 65-74-year-old group (aOR 0.49, 95 % CI: 0.34-0.71), non-hypertensive group (aOR 0.55, 95 % CI: 0.38-0.79), and non-hyperlipidemia group (aOR 0.59, 95 % CI: 0.42-0.82) had significantly decreased odds of pancreatic cancer.

In US postmenopausal women, HRT is associated with a reduced risk of pancreatic cancer, especially those aged 55-74 year. Further study is needed to clarify the mechanisms underlying the associations.