Based on recent research published in the journal PLOS Medicine, all hormonal contraceptives, including progestogen-only tablets, are associated with a slightly higher risk of breast cancer. The risk of breast cancer is roughly the same for hormonal contraceptives that use both estrogen and progestogen as it is for those that use only progestogen.
As the risk of breast cancer increases with age, the scientists assessed how much absolute additional risk is related to hormonal contraception. They discovered that women aged 16 to 20 who used hormonal contraception for five years had eight instances of breast cancer per 100,000, whereas those aged 35 to 39 had 265 cases.
The study’s co-authors, Gillian Reeves, a professor of statistical epidemiology at the University of Oxford, and Stephen Duffy, a professor at Queen Mary University of London, discovered that the risk of breast cancer decreases in the years following a woman’s discontinuation of hormonal contraception.
The study collected data from approximately 10,000 women under the age of 50 who got breast cancer in the United Kingdom between 1996 and 2017. The increased use of progestogen-only contraceptives can be prescribed to a variety of variables, including their prescription for women who are nursing, at risk of cardiovascular disease, or smokers over the age of 35.
