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Pill cuts ovarian cancer risk

31 January 2008

For most women the benefits of taking the contraceptive pill are far greater than any of the risks

Julie Bentley, Chief Executive, fpa.

Key facts
  • 85 percent of women diagnosed with ovarian cancer are aged 50 or over.
  • Often ovarian cancer is not diagnosed until it has spread to other parts of the body.
  • In 2004, 6,615 women were diagnosed with ovarian cancer in the UK.
  • In 2005, 4,447 women died from the disease in the UK.
  • An estimated three million women take the pill in the UK.

Oral contraceptives may protect 30,000 women against ovarian cancer each year, new research shows.

The study, carried out by the cancer epidemiology unit at the University of Oxford, UK, found the pill has stopped at least 200,000 women from developing ovarian cancer and saved about 100,000 lives over the past 50 years.

The team gathered results from 45 worldwide studies involving 23,257 women with ovarian cancer and 87,303 women without ovarian cancer.

Their findings, reported in The Lancet, suggest that the risk of ovarian cancer is cut by 20 percent for every five years that a woman has been on the pill. Women who take the pill for 15 years reduce their risk by half. The researchers also found that the pill protects women against ovarian cancer for more than 30 years after they stop taking it. This is important because ovarian cancer is most common in women over 50.

Julie Bentley, Chief Executive of the fpa (Family Planning Association) said it's great news for women. "There is now substantial evidence showing that for most women the benefits of taking the contraceptive pill are far greater than any of the risks."

Past studies have shown that the pill provides long-lasting protection against endometrial cancer but increases the short-term risk of cervical and breast cancer. However, analysis has shown that 10 years after stopping the pill, the risk falls to that of women who never took the pill.

"Young women don't have to worry about cancer from taking the pill because the eventual reduction in ovarian cancer is bigger than any increase in other types of cancer caused by the pill," said the co-author of the study Sir Richard Peto.

Dr Lesley Walker of Cancer Research UK said, "All women who have taken the pill or are currently taking it should be reassured by this study."

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