Women who resort to hormone replacement therapy at the start of menopause increase the risk of breast cancer 43 percent, compared to women who wait five years before starting the therapy, according to a British study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Reuters reports that the findings of the study, which included more than a million women, match those of the U.S.-based Women's Health Initiative, which found women who took HRT right at menopause had a 41 percent higher risk of breast cancer than those who waited. The researchers pointed out that the opposite is true of heart disease — women who start HRT earlier have a lower risk than women who start later.