hormonal birth control and bc

kcat2013

I saw this study today on breast cancer being associated with hormonal birth control. It interested me because it says the study looked at "modern" hormonal contraceptives--IE lower dose. The other studies I've seen have mostly looked at use of older (higher dose). The full study is behind a paywall so I've only read the abstract. Anyone want to comment or discuss? I've always felt my bc was probably influenced in part by my long history of birth control pill use (started at 16 and for a number of years used--for medical reasons-- the "continuous cycling" method where I only had a break from hormones every three months, for only 4 days each time) So anyway I find these kind of studies interesting.

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1700732

CONCLUSIONS

The risk of breast cancer was higher among women who currently or recently used contemporary hormonal contraceptives than among women who had never used hormonal contraceptives, and this risk increased with longer durations of use; however, absolute increases in risk were small.

MelissaDallas

I saw it too. I think the studies always pretty much found that the absolute increased risk was small, I think maybe they thought that it would be even smaller than it actually is with the lower dose hormonals. They did say on the interview I saw on it that women in their forties and up should consider other methods, but my gyns were telling me they wanted me to think about stopping them starting mid-thirties or so anyway. They also said on what I saw that obesity and other things were still bigger risk increases than the small increase of the pill.

MTwoman

I hadn't seen this, so thanks for posting. I think that the absolute risk explanation was also helpful

"The overall absolute increase in breast cancers diagnosed among current and recent users of any hormonal contraceptive was 13 (95% CI, 10 to 16) per 100,000 person-years, or approximately 1 extra breast cancer for every 7690 women using hormonal contraception for 1 year."

Unfortunately, this was most likely a contributing factor for me as well. Diagnosed at 38 after more than 10 years of hormonal contraceptive use.

cp418

I am convinced my use of OC for over 10 years also contributed to my getting breast cancer. IMO to determine which patients had higher risk may be linked to identifying those who had hormone imbalance or dominance issues with their cycles. Adding OC to these patients may have igniting hormone problems to cause their getting BC.

Nancy2581

Yep I'm pretty convinced that my long term use of birth control pills contributed to my breast cancer. I was on birth control since the age of 21 and stayed on them up until I was diagnosed at age 51. I did stop obviously when I had my two children, but that's all. I want a do over.

kcat2013

Melissa, I think it was always assumed that the risk would be smaller at the lower dosages also. So it was interesting that it didn't seem to matter much. I'm glad you mentioned the other risks like obesity that are higher compared to the risk of birth control, it's helpful to put it in perspective that way.

kcat2013

MTwoman, I found the absolute risk statement to be helpful too. I would like to see the actual data from the study to look more closely at young women and longer use.

kcat2013

cp418, I think it would be good to identify the patients with higher risk, and see if there's a correlation between hormone stuff. I know for myself that the few years that I was not on the pill I had problems with low progesterone and problems related to that (getting pregnant plus cycle issues).

kcat2013

Nancy, sometimes I say I'd like a do-over too. But the reasons why I chose to use birth control were valid at the time and I don't know if I would change my mind about it even knowing what I do now--just because I'm not sure what other options I would have had--rock and a hard place.

wallycat

Kcat, I'd love a do-over too! I heard this on the news last week and figured I would fall outside the curve in my family. I was barely on the pill for 8 years. My twin was on the pill for 30 years....I got cancer, she did not.

I would have thought that since the pill tricks the body into thinking it is already pregnant, and multiple pregnancies decrease BC risk, that the findings would be different. The pills do lower risk for ovarian cancer ...always a trade-off in life I suppose.

MelissaDallas

Here is a good article on the study from UT Southwestern:

http://www.utswmedicine.org/stories/articles/year-...