For their study, the researchers looked at 36 previously conducted studies, with a total number of subjects with endometrial cancer passing 27.200, and a control group of more than 115.700 women without endometrial cancer.
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In a chosen set of women who have been taking the contraceptive for the past 10 years, the rate of womb cancer diagnosis under 75 years old has fallen from 2.3 per 100 women to just 1.3.
The birth control pill has prevented hundreds of thousands of cases of endometrial cancer, and can help reduce women’s risk of developing cancer even long after they stop using it, according to a new research that analyzes data collected between 1965 to 2014.
It was estimated that for the past 50 years that the Pill has been made available, primarily for birth control, it has also likewise prevented 400,000 cases of the dreaded disease.
While the study couldn’t prove cause-and-effect, the results show that every five years of birth control pill use cut the odds of uterine cancer by about one-quarter.
In spite of the fact that estrogen measurements in oral contraceptives have diminished obviously throughout the years, with Pills in the 1960s ordinarily containing more than twofold the estrogen dosage of pills in the 1980s, the decrease in endometrial tumor danger was in any event as extraordinary for ladies who utilized the pill amid the 1980s concerning the individuals who utilized it as a part of prior decades.
“One of the most impressive aspects of the studies showed that the reduction in risk persists long after the patient ceases use of the pill, even up to 30 years later”, stated Dr. Jennifer Wu, an Ob-Gyn specialist at Lenox Hill Hospital, New York City, in a report from WebMD.
Endometrial cancer which grows in the uterus lining usually affects women after menopause.
Although levels of estrogen and other hormones are lower in the birth control pills we can find on the markets nowadays, the cancer fighting powers of “the pill” are extremely strong.
The study was funded by the Medical Research Council and Cancer Research United Kingdom.
Women’s reproductive history and ethnicity did not change the results, which were also substantially the same for women who were overweight, smoked or consumed alcohol.
It should indeed be taken into account that there are also some risks which come with taking contraceptives such as an increased risk of developing liver and cervical cancer and increased blood pressure.
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The paper found that the longer women took the pill, the greater the protection from endometrial cancer they enjoyed.
