Joint Pain and Estrogen Deprivation

Menopausal Arthritis

Recent evidence suggests caution in prescribing hormone therapy for breast cancer and sheds new light on "menopausal arthritis"

One of the most effective new treatments for breast cancer is a hormone therapy. Aromatase inhibitors work by powerfully blocking the conversion of androgen precursors into estrogens, which lowers estradiol levels in the bloodstream and estrogen levels in peripheral tissues. Because aromatase inhibitors reduce the rates of recurrence in women with early-stage postmenopausal breast cancer, these agents are not only becoming widely used in breast cancer treatment, but also being explored for their potential to prevent the disease in women at high risk. While focusing on this therapy's promise, advocates have tended to downplay one of its drawbacks. Women treated with aromatase inhibitors often experience joint pain and musculoskeletal aching: severe enough, in some cases, to make them stop the treatment.

Two noted researchers, David T. Felson, M.D., of Boston University Clinical Epidemiology Unit, and Steven R. Cummings, M.D., of California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute and University of California, San Francisco, have thoroughly examined the evidence linking aromatase inhibitors and, more broadly, estrogen deprivation joint pain. In the September 2005 issue of Arthritis