All kinds of hormonal contraceptives carry a small increased risk of breast cancer, as per a study establishing a link with progestogen pills for the first time.
Researchers from the University of Oxford have discovered through data analysis that progestogen use is linked to a 20–30% increased risk of breast cancer. This supports earlier research demonstrating the use of the oestrogen and progesterone-containing combination contraceptive pill is linked to a slight increase in the risk of breast cancer, which then lowers after quitting use.
According to Claire Knight of Cancer Research UK, which provided funding for the study, the risk is minimal and shouldn't deter the majority of people from taking the medication.
"Women under the age of 50, where the risk of breast cancer is even lower, are most likely to use contraception," she said. The best ways to reduce cancer risk are to quit smoking, eat a healthy, balanced diet, drink less alcohol, and maintain a healthy weight.
Contraception has a wide range of potential advantages as well as hazards that are unrelated to cancer. Because of this, determining whether to take them is a personal decision that should be made after consulting with your doctor.
Based on data from 9,498 women who got invasive breast cancer between the ages of 20 and 49 and 18,171 closely matched women without breast cancer, the study, which was published in PLOS Medicine, was conducted.
The researchers discovered that, on average, three years prior to diagnosis, 44% of breast cancer patients and 39% of non-patients had been prescribed a hormonal contraception; almost 50% of these patients had last received a progestogen-only contraceptive.
According to the study, the absolute extra risk of developing breast cancer in women who have used oral contraceptives for five years ranged from eight per 100,000 women for usage between the ages of 16 and 20 to 265 per 100,000 for use between the ages of 35 and 39. They also discovered that in the years following discontinuing the medication, the elevated risk of breast cancer gradually decreased.
One of the study's primary authors, Kirstin Pirie, a statistical programmer at Oxford Population Health, said that because breast cancer risk rose with age, younger women may believe the risk is so low that the advantages of using contraception throughout their reproductive years outweigh it.
The results are significant because, by 2020, prescription levels for progestogen-only contraception will be comparable to those for combined oral contraceptives as their popularity grows.
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