Contraceptive pill increases breast cancer risk three-fold

Birth control pills that are high in estrogen increase the risk of breast cancer nearly three times.
The risk seems to be highest in women who have only recently started taking the pill, and during the first 12 months usage, say researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer research Centre in Seattle.
The risk is highest for high-dose estrogen pills, which increase the risk for breast cancer by 2.7 times, while moderate-dose estrogen pills raise the risk 1.6 times. Pills containing ethynodiol diacetate are almost as dangerous, raising the risk 2.6 times.
In an analysis of 1,102 women who had developed breast cancer, the researchers found that most had only recently started taking the pill, and had been using it for less than a year. Recent use increased the cancer risk by 50 per cent, irrespective of the type of contraceptive pill used.
(Source: Cancer Research, 2014; 74(15): 4078)

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