New study says any kind of oral contraceptive could increase the risk of cancer

A new study has found that women may have an increased risk of cancer from taking any type of hormonal contraceptive.

A recent study by scientists has found that using progestogen-only hormonal contraceptives, the oral mini-pill, implant, injectable or an intra-uterine device can increase the risk of getting cancer by 20 to 30 per cent.

However, experts also indicated that taking these contraceptives to protect against endometrial and ovarian cancer could outweigh the risks.

Research in the past has found that taking the combined contraceptive pill (the pill) which contains progestogen and oestrogen, has a small risk of getting breast cancer while you are taking it. The use of the progestogen-only pill has increased in popularity over the past few years, but there is limited information about breast cancer risk.

New findings indicate that the risk of developing cancer over a 15-year period in women who have used an oral contraceptive was between eight women in 100,000 at ages 16 to 20 and 265 women in every 100,000 at ages 35 to 39.

Experts confirmed that the study included 44 per cent of women with breast cancer and 39 per cent of those without the disease who had a prescription for an oral contraceptive for an average of three years before being diagnosed.

The data was collected by the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) and was analysed from 9,498 women who developed cancer between 20 and 49 years of age and, 18,171 closely matched women who didn’t have breast cancer.

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Source: https://news.sky.com/story/using-any-type-of-hormonal-contraceptive-could-increase-the-risk-of-women-getting-breast-cancer-new-study-suggests-12839575