Research suggests that using oral contraceptives helps women protect themselves against endometrial cancer. The protection will be experience by women who use birth control pills during their reproductive years.
The 36 studies which involved 140,000 women from different countries around the world showed that taking oral contraceptives every five years resulted to reduction of cancer risk by 24% which lasted for three decades.
In the studies, the researchers examined 27,276 women who suffered from endometrial cancer and another 115,743 healthy women to understand the link between the said cancer and birth control pills. The subjects involved came from high earning countries from Europe, Australia, China, South Africa, Japan and US.
Around 50% of the subjects were at least 63 years old with the said cancer which were diagnosed in the year 2001. One third of the endometrial cancer patients used birth control pills for around three years. Almost 40% of the healthy women also took the pills for more than four years.
Data showed cancer risk reduction which varied depending on the type of tumor. A 31% decrease of lifetime risk of acquiring endometrial carcinomas was experienced by the subjects while risks from sarcomas were lowered by 17%. In every 100 women who used the pills, 1.3 women developed uterine cancer which is lower compared to the 2.3 women from the non-pill user group.
Valerie Beral, the senior author of the study from Oxford University stated that, "Our results show clearly, for the first time, that the protective effect of the pill on endometrial cancer lasts for over 30 years."
Endometrial cancer starts in the inner lining in the uterus of women which the cause is still unknown. The cancer affects women around 60 years old, the period when they are no longer reproductive. Those who take estrogen therapy for menopause symptoms are usually at risk of the said cancer.
Guttmacher Institute reports that pill, which is the most accessible is used by 27.5% of women regularly.
