No link between lung cancer risk, reproductive history or hormone use

the Oncology Nurse Advisor take:

According to results published in the Journal of Thoracic Oncology, researchers from the Women's Health Initiative Studies have found no strong associations between lung cancer risk in women and reproductive history and a weak association between lung cancer risk and hormone use.

The Women's Health Initiative Studies included a diverse cohort of 161,808 postmenopausal women aged 50-79 years at numerous centers across the United Stated.

For this particular analysis, researchers evaluated reproductive history, oral contraceptive use, and hormone replacement therapy in 160,855 women. Researchers identified 2,467 women who developed lung cancer during the median follow-up of 14 years.

Results of the study showed that women with a previous use of estrogen and progestin for fewer than 5 years had a slightly decreased risk for developing lung cancer.

Increasing age at menopause also trended towards a decreased risk of cancer. Increasing number of children trended towards an increased risk.

Researchers also found that women who had their first child between the ages of 20 and 29 had a decreased risk for non-small cell lung cancer specifically, but not lung cancer overall.