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Med's Side Effect,
Menopause Linked
UPI Health News (Business) - October 04, 2009

U.S. researchers suggest a breast cancer drug side-effect -- joint pain -- is linked to menopause.

The side-effect of sometimes very severe joint pain, arthralgia, was reported by 139 women of the 300 taking part in the study who were taking one of the drugs in a group of aromatase inhibitors.

Seventy-five percent of those reporting symptoms said the pain began within the first three months of the therapy.

"We are fortunate today to have many effective treatments for breast cancer. Unfortunately, many of these treatments have troublesome and debilitating side effects that can last for months or years after treatment, and really harm the quality of life and productivity of women who receive them," study lead author Dr. Jun J. Mao of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia said in a statement.

The study, published in Cancer, found the joint pain was less likely in women who had experienced menopause more than a decade before taking the medication. Women who began the drug treatment less than five years after their last menstrual period were three times more likely to suffer arthralgia.