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Birth Control Pills Still Linked to Breast Cancer, Study Finds
Women who rely on birth control pills or contraceptive devices that release hormones face a small but significant increase in the risk for breast cancer, according to a large study published on Wednesday.
The study [DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1700732] [DX], which followed 1.8 million Danish women for more than a decade, upends widely held assumptions about modern contraceptives for younger generations of women. Many women have believed that newer hormonal contraceptives are much safer than those taken by their mothers or grandmothers, which had higher doses of estrogen.
The new paper estimated that for every 100,000 women, hormone contraceptive use causes an additional 13 breast cancer cases a year. That is, for every 100,000 women using hormonal birth control, there are 68 cases of breast cancer annually, compared with 55 cases a year among nonusers.
While a link had been established between birth control pills and breast cancer years ago, this study is the first to examine the risks associated with current formulations of birth control pills and devices in a large population.
The study found few differences in risk between the formulations; women cannot protect themselves by turning to implants or intrauterine devices that release a hormone directly into the uterus.
The research also suggests that the hormone progestin — widely used in today's birth control methods — may be raising breast cancer risk.
Also at NPR.
Previously: Study Links Hormonal Birth Control to Depression
Review Finds That Over-the-Counter Birth Control Pills Would be Safe for Teens
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Monday December 11 2017, @04:40PM (1 child)
Oh please, there were surely other reasons to reformulate the pills besides the breast cancer risk.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 11 2017, @07:19PM
Commercially, reformulation extended their patent protections while the dosage reduction lowered the price of manufacturing.
Medically, estrogen, progesterone and progestin bind to different receptor sites and raise or lower the risks for a whole list of conditions in different ways. They even interact with each other - in complex ways - by competing over some sites but not others. Progestin especially has been linked to heart attacks and the only reason it was allowed to remain on the market was the - now debunked - reduced risk for breast cancer.
Overall, old women should take estrogen and progesterone while younger women might want to risk estrogen contraceptive pills. But those are 40 years old - past their patents - courses so the drug companies are obstructing the FDA.