YOUR reporter Ella Pickover, referring to the findings of the Breast Cancer Now Generations Study, published in the British Journal of Cancer (“Combined HRT use linked to a massive rise in cancer risk”, The Herald, August 23), quite correctly points out that the risk of developing breast cancer is increased by approximately three times for those who have previously taken hormone replacement therapy (HRT). However, this tells us very little about the risks of taking HRT, unless or until we know what this risk is to start with.

Does this increased risk go from one in 100 to three in 100, from one in 1,000 to three in 1,000 or from some other larger or smaller number? In other words, how significant is the risk of developing breast cancer in the first place?

Only when we know this can women contemplating HRT make an informed judgment.

To be fair to your reporter she does mention that the study involved “40,000 menopausal women – 775 of whom developed breast cancer”. However, we do not know what percentage of that 40,000 were taking HRT. I heard this reported first this morning (August 23) on the BBC and they reported it in exactly the same way as your reporter did, quite baldly stating that HRT increased the risk of developing breast cancer by a factor of three. I think that this is unduly alarmist and would be better understood by the general public when expressed in absolute terms, as so many per hundred, per thousand or whatever comparison would be appropriate in the circumstances.

Jim Meikle,

41 Lampson Road,

Killearn.