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Birth Control Pills Found To
Raise Breast Cancer Risk

3-23-02

BARCELONA, Spain (Reuters) - Using the birth control pill can increase a woman's risk of developing breast cancer, particularly if is she is still taking it after the age of 45, scientists said on Saturday.
 
New research presented at the Third European Breast Cancer Conference confirms the results of earlier, smaller studies which have shown the chance of getting the disease rises by about 26 percent in women who have used oral contraceptives compared to those who have not.
 
For women aged 45 and over the risk is doubled.
 
"It is a doubling in risk," Dr. Merethe Kumle, of Community Medicine in Tromso, Norway told the conference.
 
"It is clear that oral contraceptives increase a woman's risk of developing breast cancer, particularly when they are used in the later period of reproductive life," she added.
 
Using data from a large lifestyle and health study, Kumle and her team studied information on 103,027 women who were questioned about their lifestyle, health and use of the pill in 1991/1992.
 
They followed the medical history of the women to December 1999 and found 1,008 cases of the disease. Most of the women had taken newer versions of the pill which contain lower doses of hormones.
 
"I think the results from this study of Norwegian and Swedish women are very interesting and confirm results from earlier studies of oral contraceptive use," Kumle said.
 
Early pregnancy, late menopause, postponing childbirth or not having children are risk factors for breast cancer which affects about one million women worldwide each year.
 
Studies have also shown that using the pill and hormone replacement therapy (HRT) can increase the risk of the disease, although the risk decreases after women stop taking the drugs.
 
Kumle stressed that the risk for younger women, under the age of 40, is very low. Most breast cancer is diagnosed in women 50 years and older.
 
"We found a slightly increased risk of breast cancer among users of the pill, but it is important to underline that young women using the pill are not playing hazard with their health. As contraception, the pill should still be the drug of choice for young women," she added.
 
 
Copyright © 2002 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.


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