Women taking oral contraceptives might want to think twice about the long-term risks, according to a recently released study.
Taking oral contraceptives increases the risk to develop some cancers, but a decreased risk with others, according to a 36-year study published in the British Medical Journal.
The study, published this month and authored by Professor Philip C. Hannaford of the University of Aberdeen in Britain, used incidental data to examine the cancer risks or benefits associated with oral contraception.
Findings of the study, which took place between 1968 and 2004, revealed that women on both estrogen and progesterone contraceptives — as opposed to just progesterone — were more likely to develop breast, cervical and liver cancers. Within 10 years of stopping the usage of oral contraceptives, the chance of developing the same cancers lowers.
Pill users experienced generally lower rates of ovarian, colorectal, bowel and endometrial cancers, according to the study.
Ashley Gooder, a biology sophomore, said she does not believe that the incident-based data played a role in the overall findings.
"I think [the findings] are still important because they say it's been helping [the women]," Gooder said. "So if they did a more formal study it could confirm those results."
Dr. Allan Markus, director of Campus Health at ASU, said he was somewhat skeptical of the study's findings.
"You have to be very careful of interpreting studies like this," Markus said.
Markus said that use of incidental data does not necessarily provide for a perfect study.
Dr. Ellen C Grant, a gynecologist from Kingston-upon-Thames, Britain, also discredited the study via a Sept. 16 statement posted on the British Medical Journal Web site, bmj.com.
In Grant's statement, she said the incidence of breast and other cancers in pill-using women is more likely attributed to the increased cancer risks associated with hormone-replacement therapy.
She added that the majority of the women who developed cancer were post-menopausal and using hormone replacement therapies.
Gerri Grote, a biochemistry senior, said she believes the fact that oral contraceptives have evolved chemically over the years also played a role in the incidence of cancers in the older women.
"The hormone dosage in the pill is way less than it used to be, so the effects from it now could be different," Grote said.
Reach the reporter at: brittany.mccall@asu.edu.
