Oral Contraceptives Cut Ovarian Cancer Risk

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Beral doesn't think women should decide whether to take the Pill based on its ability to reduce ovarian cancer risk. "The decision to take the Pill is about contraception, but there is a bonus at the end of all that," she said.

Dr. Eduardo Franco, a professor of epidemiology and oncology at McGill University in Montreal, and co-author of an accompanying editorial in the journal, said this study answers a lot of lingering questions about the extent of the protection the Pill offers against ovarian cancer.

"Oral contraceptives are beneficial to women worldwide," Franco said. "In fact, a lot of ovarian cancers have been averted."

Franco noted that estrogen in oral contraceptives has a protective effect, yet after menopause hormone-replacement therapy is associated with an increased cancer risk. "What is protective before menopause gets to be harmful after menopause," he said. "It's an exercise in risk and benefit."

Another editorial in the same journal issue argues for making oral contraceptives available over-the-counter. "We believe that the case is now convincing. Women deserve the choice to obtain oral contraceptives over-the-counter, removing a huge and unnecessary barrier to a potentially powerful cancer-preventing agent," the journal editorial states.

"A strong message about the overall cancer-preventing benefits of oral contraceptives would be a positive public health message, empowering women to decide for themselves about the evidence," the editorial concludes.

However, Franco strongly disagrees with this proposal. "Because of the complexity of use and the potential for misuse, it should always be a prescription medication," he said.

According to the American Cancer Society, ovarian cancer is the eighth most common cancer in women, skin cancer excluded. It's the fifth-leading cause of cancer death in women. An estimated 22,430 new cases of ovarian cancer are diagnosed in the United States each year, and about 15,280 women die from the disease. Two-thirds of women with ovarian cancer are 55 or older.

More information

To learn more about ovarian cancer, visit the U.S. National Cancer Institute.