Researchers Find No Link Between Breast Cancer and the Pill

A major new study offers reassuring news on breast cancer for women who have ever taken birth control pills. Past or present use of oral contraceptives doesn’t increase a woman’s breast cancer risk. This is true whether the pill had been taken as a teenager or an adult, whether they were high or low in estrogen, whether they took them for months or years, whether the women were white or black and even whether they had a family history of breast cancer.

Because breast tissue responds to sex hormones such as those found in the Pill, researchers had thought that oral contraceptives might increase the risk for breast cancer. The only women for whom the issue might not be resolved are those between the ages of 45 and 64 who take oral contraceptives before or during menopause for birth control, to alleviate common symptoms such as irregular menstrual periods, or to reduce their risk of other conditions such as ovarian cancer, endometrial cancer and benign breast disease.

For the study, researchers in five U.S. cities enrolled 4,575 women with breast cancer who were between 35 and 64, and 4,682 healthy women who were of similar ages and lived in the same neighborhoods. 65% of the participants were white, 35% were black. Study participants were interviewed about their use of oral contraceptives and other hormones, reproductive and health history, family history and other characteristics.

Similar proportions of the women with cancer and the comparison group (77% vs. 79%) had used oral contraceptives.

Except in the case of women who smoke, it appears that the health benefits of oral contraceptives far exceed the health risks to healthy women who need protection against pregnancy.