Contraceptives

Are oral contraceptives ‘good’ for reducing the risk of developing some cancers but ‘bad’ for increasing the risk of others developing? What is rumour, what is fact,  which ‘latest’ study can be relied upon to help us to make the decision about whether a cancer risk is worth taking when it comes to using oral contraceptives for birth control?  For the average female who just wants an effective and safe, long term solution for her birth control method, to treat acne or reduce severe menstrual symptoms, study results can be unsettling to say the least and they often leave her anxious and unsure about her own personal level of risk.  This latest study, though, on the relationship between oral contraceptives and cancers, is worth a look.

Who Did The Study?

The British Royal College of General Practitioners (yep, these guys have ‘cred’) studied 46,000 women from 1968 to 1996 (in my opinion, an absolute minimum no. to study) divided into two groups, 23,000 users of oral contraception and 23,000 who had ‘never used’ oral contraceptives. 1,400 family physicians collected all sorts of relevant data including, type of oral contraceptive used, pregnancies, new illnesses, surgeries and cancers.

This study was also thorough in gathering other information about these women such as their age, their smoking status and social class and their medical records were examined to enable any new cancer cases and deaths from any cause to be reported to the study from national registries and databases.  Incidences of cancer in women who took oral contraceptives was compared with incidences in ‘never-users’ of oral contraceptives Individual cancers, leading gynecologic neoplasms and ‘all cancers’ were categorized.  Neoplasm is an abnormal mass of tissue that results when cells divide more than they should or do not die when they should. Neoplasms may be benign (not cancerous) or malignant (cancerous). Also called a  tumor.

What Were The Findings?

In a nutshell, the study confirms what we have been told by other evidence to date, that is, in large population-based studies, no increased risk of cancers has been detected in oral contraceptive users overall and there was no difference between the two groups for cases of breast cancer.

Using oral contraceptives seems to protect against ovarian cancer for at least 15 years after discontinuation of use

• significantly lower numbers of cases of colorectal, ovarian, uterine body, “unknown” and “other” cancers were found
• there was a 29% combined risk reduction for the main gynecologic cancers in oral contraceptive users
• increases in cases of lung, cervix and central nervous system cancer were found in a few oral contraceptive users BUT these were too small and statistically in significant enough to count
• a significant increase in cancer risk was associated with the use of oral contraceptives for more than 8 years, mainly due to an increase of cervical, pituitary and central nervous system cancers

We owe it to ourselves to keep up to date with any findings and developments regarding birth control and sexual health but when readings results of surveys please use your common sense in assessing the source, scope and size of the study to avoid a ‘knee jerk’ reaction based on minimal information that could unnecessarily cause you distress and have a negative impact on your ‘contraception career’.

Sources:  Nat. Cancer Institute and full report by Ann D Walling HERE but I recommend that you at least read the editor’s note at the end of the article as it has relevance for all females who are worried about cancer and currently use or are considering using, oral contraceptives.

Oral contraceptives and risks-  alarming headlines can often be misleading when it comes to oral
contraceptive research so it pays not to assume anything on first ’skimming’. Rather, investigate a bit more deeply if it’s something that is likely to affect you and your body and your own future management of contraception.  A whisper about ‘new’ evidence on oral contraceptives, either positive or negative,  can generate mass over reaction and exaggeration.  Find out for yourself as much as you can before allowing the results of studies and ‘findings from the latest research’ influence any decision you are about to make about a specific contraceptive you are considering.

One of the agreed benefits of taking combined oral contraceptives that emerged from many global studies over the years,  is that they reduce the risk of ovarian cancer.  It now seems that they may also slightly reduce the risk of colon cancer .  According to lead researcher Dr. Geoffrey C. Kabat, of Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York it’s too soon to leap ahead and conclude this yet but in a study of nearly 90,000 Canadian women aged 40- 59, it was found that those who had ever used contraceptive pills were 17 percent less likely to develop colon cancer over the next 16 years.  Interestingly, this was NOT the case for women on HRT (hormone replacement therapy)

These results regarding oral contraceptives were published in the International Journal of Cancer after a breast cancer screening study was carried out on 89,835 Canadian women over a period of 16 years. Studies with smaller groups have also been done in Italy between 1985 and 1996 with similar results.

It seems to me that there are so many other factors to be considered such as lifestyle, weight, medical history of family for colon cancer and not least the various doses of hormones in all the different types of oral contraceptives,  so I think it will be quite a while before any firm statement will be made on this one.