Birth control pills not linked to breast cancer

Previous data had suggested that women using birth control pills (oral contraceptives) or who had used them in the previous 10 years had a slightly increased risk of breast cancer. A new study conducted by researchers at The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), USA has refuted this. They found that the use of such pills does not increase a woman's risk of developing breast cancer.Oral contraceptives or birth control pills, are the most common form of contraception. These pills are taken everyday for a specified period of time to prevent pregnancy. Oral contraceptives work by preventing the ovaries from releasing the eggs. The pills use a combination of the hormones oestrogen and progesterone, which are taken for 21 to 25 days in a month.The researchers selected 4575 women with breast cancer between 35 and 64 years for the study. A total of 4682 women who were healthy were selected as age-matched controls. All of the women answered questions about oral contraceptive use, reproductive history, overall health and their family medical history. They found that the relative risk was 1.0 per cent for women who were currently using oral contraceptives and 0.9 per cent for those who had previously used them or who had never used oral contraceptives. The relative risk did not increase consistently with longer periods of use or with higher doses of oestrogen. Use of oral contraceptives by women with a family history of breast cancer was not associated with an increased risk of breast cancer, nor was the initiation of oral-contraceptive use at a young age. This is definitely reassuring for women as the study provides strong evidence that among women from 35 to 64 years of age, current or past use of oral contraceptives does not increase the risk of breast cancer later in life.