Posted on 03/23/2002 4:46:11 PM PST by Notwithstanding
Saturday, 23 March, 2002, 08:40 GMT
Their risk rose by just over a quarter (26%), compared with women who had never used the Pill.
This is slightly higher than previous studies have estimated.
The latest research showed those who had taken the Pill over longer periods increased their risk of breast cancer by 58% compared with those who never used it.
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 It is clear that oral contraceptives increase a woman's risk of developing breast cancer
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Dr Merethe Kumle, study co-ordinator
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However, the highest increased risk (144%) was among women aged over 45 who were still using the Pill.
Dr Merethe Kumle, who carried out the research, said: "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."
The study, presented at the third European Breast Cancer Conference in Barcelona, used data collected from 103,000 women aged between 30 and 49.
Dr Kumle from the Institute of Community Medicine in Tromso, Norway, collaborated with researchers in Sweden and France to assess data from the Women's Lifestyle and Health study carried out in Norway and Sweden.
The women were originally contacted in 1991/92 and followed through to December 1999.
During that time, 1,008 cases of breast cancer had been detected.
Most of the women who had taken the Pill had used the more modern brands that are currently prescribed by doctors.
Lower dose Pills
Dr Kumle stressed the Pill also has health benefits.
She said: "Oral contraceptives have a lot of advantages as well as disadvantages.
"The total number of deaths from any cause among women who use oral contraceptives is likely to be lower than women who have never used the Pill - just as with hormone replacement therapy."
She added: "The Pill has made it possible for women to decide when and how many children they will give birth to - something which has revolutionised women's lives and is an important issue in women's rights."
The absolute risk of a woman developing breast cancer under the age of 40 is very low, says Dr Kumle.
She also stressed that modern oral contraceptives have much lower hormone doses in them than the older ones, which caused an unacceptably high number of adverse effects.
Professor Valerie Beral, who is head of Cancer Research UK's Cancer Epidemiology Unit in Oxford, said this study was in line with previous research, although the figures differed.
She said: "We have done a study of 54,000 women with breast cancer and found there is a small increased risk of developing the disease from taking the Pill.
Breast cancer trends
"We found a 24% increase in risk while women were currently taking the Pill.
"However the risk fell away to the same as women who had never taken the Pill, within 10 years of them discontinuing its use."
The incidence of breast cancer has been rising in Western countries over the past 30 years.
The use of oral contraceptives is one reason, but girls starting their periods earlier, women having fewer and later births, later menopause and a tendency to being overweight are also influential.
Dr Kumle said: "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."
As a woman with two miscarriages, no live births and a family history of Ovarian cancer, I'm on the Pill simply for the protection it provides from Ovarian cancer. (PS I have a degree in biology)
< Check out the commercial Dr. Brind had produced. (Click image.)
BTW, most studies do show an increased risk of stroke and blood clots in Pill users. Even more interesting, I just read that the latest generation of Pills caused even more problems than the previous one. It encouraged women to continue using the second generation Pills instead. As for estrogen, many studies over the years do report lower incidences of stroke, heart disease, etc. However, in the last year this has been brought into question. A study out a few months ago reported no advantages found. This lead researchers to wonder if women on estrogen were just more conscientious overall about their health than women who took nothing. Interesting, and I think we'll see more about this. You have to look at all the studies together because periodically you do get those that contradict each other.
THE BIRTH CONTROL PILL DOES NOT ACT AS AN OVULATION SUPPRESSANT.
IT IS A CHEMICAL ABORTIFACIENT!!!
It looks like Dr. Brind's institute has a website also. www.hope.info It has good links.
Well, I sure have been getting lots of chances to be monitored with regular mammograms the past five years, since my breast cancer was detected and treated. No history of breast cancer in my family, but 7 or 8 years on HRT first to "get me through the hot flashes" and then later because I had "a history of cardiovascular problems in the family." What they "forgot" to tell me was that whenever I finally did decide to stop the HRT, I would get to experience the hot flashes anyway, even if I was 75 or 80 when I did so!
There are some big studies going on about pros and cons of HRT. It appears all that much vaunted heart protection and bone protection go the way of the dodo bird soon after HRT is discontinued, anyway. Now, do I think HRT "caused" my breast cancer? Well, yes and no. One of the doctors of the Women's Health Initiative's huge 70,000+ woman study told my group that there was no apparent cause of cancer by the HRT. No relationship at 1 year or 2, even 3, 4, 5, or 6. Then, interestingly, his graph showed that about 7 or 8 years into the use of HRT, there was a dramatic rise in the correlation between breast cancer and HRT. Just a coincidence, I suppose? However, Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book describes the progression of a cancer cell from its first mutation. Many just "go away," probably destroyed by the body's immunue system. However...estrogen feeds many breast cancer cells and fans them into growth, like feeding oxygen to a fire. Care to guess how many years it takes that single cancer cell to grow large enough to be detected? Six or seven years. Remember the point when the correlation between HRT use and breast cancer shows up many times higher than it was at year 1 or 2?
HRT may not have "caused" my cancer, (caused that first mutation) but there is not the slightest doubt in my mind that it encouraged it to grow into an invasive tumor that would have taken my life (and still might) had it not been discovered, and that the mutant cell might never have done so without it. Yes, I got the hot flashes when I stopped the Premarin -- with a vengeance. Would I have taken Premarin then, if I had known then what I know now? Not on your tintype.
Please get Dr. John Lee's book: What your doctor may not tell you about Menopause. It's very important info.
Seriously, do you have something against women! No, not seriously---I'm sure you don't. :~)
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