Saturday, March 25, 2017

Oral contraceptive pill use protects against colorectal, endometrial and ovarian cancer.

 courtesy: Getty images

Women who have ever used the ‘pill’ have a decreased chance of having colorectal cancer, endometrial cancer or ovarian cancer than women who had never used the pill according to a new research from The University of AberdeenUK

The study was published in February issue of American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.[1]

The study answers three important questions about safety of the use of OC. (1) What is the duration of benefits for endometrial, ovarian, and colorectal cancer. (2) Does combined oral contraceptive use during the reproductive years led to new cancer risks as we age? (3) What is the risk benefit ratio for cancer among past users as they age and enter old age when the general population risk of cancer increases?[2]

This is the longest running study of its kind  that looked at data from 46,022 women who were recruited by the UK Royal College of General Practitioners' Oral Contraception Study in 1968 -1969 and were followed for up to 44 years. The study looked at risk of specific and general cancer risk for women who have ‘ever’ used the pill against the women who have ‘never’ used the pill.

The pill was first approved for contraceptive use in 1960 and was an instant hit with 2.3 million women using it by 1963. Controversies ranged from its inception and are still rife about the pill causing cancers, blood clots, heart attack and stroke.

Few studies have documented that women are protected against GI malignancies and are at increased risk of breast and cervical cancer while currently using pills or being a recent user.

The current study data showed that the protective effect of pill lasts for 30 years even after the pill is stopped and pill users have a 19% lower risk of GI malignancies, 26% lower chance of lymphatic, and hematopoietic cancer, 34% lower risk of endometrial cancer and a 33% lower risk of ovarian cancer.

The study showed a slight increased chance of breast and cervical cancer while using the pill but this was neutralized and plummeted to the general population risk in 5 years of stopping the pill.

The cohort did not show increased risk of any other malignancy as the women aged.

The authors concluded that “Most women who choose to use oral contraceptives do not expose themselves to long-term cancer harms; instead, with some cancers, many women benefit from important reductions of risk that persist for many years after stopping.”

Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, Chair of the RCGP, said: “Millions of women worldwide who use the combined oral contraceptive pill should be reassured by this comprehensive research that they are not at increased risk of cancer as a result – and that taking the pill might actually decrease their risk of certain cancers.”[3]

“This is not to advocate that women should be given the pill as a preventative measure against cancer as we know that a minority of women do have adverse health effects as a result of taking the pill. Ultimately decisions to prescribe the pill need to be made on a patient by patient basis, but this research will be useful to inform the conversations we have with our patients when discussing various contraceptive options that are available.”

“Long-term and ongoing research into the health effects of any medication is important in shaping new clinical guidelines around the care we are able to provide to our patients – and it’s encouraging to hear that RCGP research that originated in in the 1960s is still having a positive impact and increasing our knowledge now.”



[1] Iversen L, Sivasubramaniam S, Lee AJ, et al. Lifetime cancer risk and combined oral contraceptives: the Royal College of General Practitioners’ Oral Contraception Study. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2017
[2] http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002937817301795
[3] http://www.rcgp.org.uk/news/2017/march/pill-study-should-reassure-millions-of-women-workdwide-says-rcgp.aspx

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