Breast cancer rates in the United States dropped dramatically in 2003, and experts attribute the sudden decline to the fact that many women have stopped taking hormone pills.
The 7.2 percent decline came a year after a federal study linked menopause hormones to a higher risk of breast cancer, heart disease and other problems. Within months, millions of women stopped taking the pills.
A new analysis of federal cancer statistics, presented Thursday at a breast cancer conference in Texas, revealed the drop.
April 10, 2026 
