Study: Birth Control Pill Increases Breast Cancer Risk Most for Older Women

Using birth control pills slightly increases a younger woman's risk of developing breast cancer, but more than doubles the risk if is she is taking it after the age of 45, according to researchers.

Reporting on a collaborative Swedish-Norwegian-French study of more than 100,000 women, the researchers said women who used the pill when they were very young and stopped, or used it only until their first full-term pregnancy, had no increased risk.

But the researchers said that for women who used the pill throughout the almost ten-year study, the risk was 58 percent higher than for non-pill users.

And women still using the pill after age 45 have a 144 percent greater risk of breast cancer than non pill users, the researchers told the Third European Breast Cancer Conference.

"It is clear that oral contraceptives increase a woman's risk of developing breast cancer, particularly when they are used in the later period of reproductive life," said Dr. Merethe Kumle of Community Medicine in Tromso, Norway.

But Kumle said the risk for younger women is quite low.

"We found a slightly increased risk of breast cancer among users of the pill, but it is important to underline that young women using the pill are not playing hazard with their health," she said. "As contraception, the pill should still be the drug of choice for young women."

Other Sources: 3rd European Breast Cancer Conference