Study: Pill cuts ovarian cancer risk long-term

TAKING the contraceptive pill provides women with “substantial long-term protection” against ovarian cancer, research suggests.

And at least 100,000 deaths from ovarian cancer have been prevented worldwide by the contraceptive pill over 50 years, according to an article published in The Lancet. It said that the longer the pill is used, the greater the reduction in the risk of developing the disease.

The researchers found that this protection lasted for more than 30 years after a woman had stopped taking the oral contraceptive. Taking it for 15 years halved the risk of ovarian cancer.

The study, conducted by the Collaborative Group on Epidemiological Studies of Ovarian Cancer, estimated that in high income countries, using the pill for 10 years reduced the risk of developing this disease before the age of 75 from 12 per 1,000 women to eight per 1,000 women.

It also reduces the risk of death from ovarian cancer before the age of 75 from seven down to five per 1000 women.

The study looked at worldwide evidence from 45 studies of ovarian cancer in 21 countries.

It included 23,257 women with the cancer, of whom 7,308 (31%) had used oral contraceptives and a control group of 87,303 women without the disease of whom 32,717 (37%) had used oral contraceptives.

In women with the cancer, the average age of diagnosis was 56. Those that had used the contraceptive had done so for an average of 4.4 years.

Lead author Professor Valerie Beral, director of the Cancer Research UK epidemiology unit at Oxford University, said: “More than 100 million women are now taking the pill, so the number of ovarian cancers prevented will rise over the next few decades to about 30,000 per year.”

Previous research has suggested that the pill can cause an increased risk of developing breast or cervical cancer.

Co-author Richard Peto, professor of epidemiology at Oxford University, said: “Young women don’t have to worry about cancer from taking the pill because the eventual reduction in ovarian cancer is bigger than any increase in other types of cancer caused by the pill.”

Ellen Mason, cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation (BHF), said the study was good news for women.

But she added: “Currently women are safeguarded because they have to be prescribed oral contraceptives. This aims to stop women who are at high risk of potentially dangerous blood clots being given oral contraceptives. We would not want to see their safety compromised by a change in prescribing.

“If oral contraceptives were ever to be prescribed over the counter then a system must be in place to ensure thorough assessment of women. This would involve blood pressure testing, questions about medical history, and consideration of smoking habits and age.”