There are still risks associated with hormone replacement therapy.

The outcome of the study is not as clear-cut as we might have hoped for. It will take some time for experts to review the data to determine which of the two treatments is preferable.

If you must take hormone replacement, you need to have a discussion with your doctor about the benefits and risks, knowing that one risk you can take off the table is breast cancer.

What this study does in a detailed way, with the advantage of outstanding long-term follow-up and health records, is clearly demonstrate the impact of smoking on the duration of life.

This may seem like common sense to most folks, but there's really been no literature or science where researchers tried to quantify and verify the effect.

I suspect that there will be a significant interest in getting better tests into the mainstream.