On Tuesday, March 21, a study revealed that the alarm had been raised against the side effects of so-called hormonal contraceptives, after it was proven that their use has direct effects on increasing the risk of cancer, more precisely breast cancer.
According to the published study, which had repercussions in the global media, although the results show that the risk of developing this disease increases “slightly” due to the use of drugs that contain progestogen, the call of the scientists was to put a magnifying glass on this. When you consider it is increasingly consumed.
According to the research abstract, which the scientists released via the journal PLOS Medicine, the research requires us to weigh the results, balancing the increased risk of these diseases against the “benefits” of exercise or contraceptive plans. dependent on these drugs.
According to the research, the result of this new study shows that, just as it has been proven against contraceptives that mix progestogen and estrogen, the group of drugs indicated also has the same effect, although it is used to prevent other types of diseases.
Alarms were raised about the results of this study due to the fact that there is a trend towards increasing progestin-only contraceptives; A trend that, according to the international media, has been evident in the last decade.
In the same sense, the result of the exam shows that, although it alerts to the greater possibility of developing this type of cancer, breast cancer, it does not exclude the possibility of other derived diseases; But this study did not address this because it is not its objective.
According to the results, statistically speaking, the use of this type of hormonal contraceptive has an increased risk between 20% and 30%, which is a latent risk, regardless of whether it is the pill, IUD, implant or injection.
This study, as reported in the scientific publication, reinforced research already carried out in the 1990s, which warned of similar risks.
Among the revealed statistics, it is also noted that women who have been taking hormonal contraceptive treatments for five years, and who are in the age group between 16 and 20 years, are at risk of developing breast cancer. Eight cases per 100,000 women However, the risk is highest in the 35-39 age group, which represents a disease progression rate of 265 cases per 100,000 women.
In this sense, one of the authors of the study, Dr. Gillian Reeves, professor at the University of Oxford, admitted knowing that the alert is not pleasant, as many women have found their answer to the challenge of family planning in this situation, and it is important that the method continues to be used,
so it tries to mitigate the situation. by confirming that although these contraceptives increase the risk of breast cancer, this condition also points to another class of conditions that must be developed.
“These increases in breast cancer risk, of course, must be seen in the context of what we know about the many benefits of taking hormonal contraceptives,” said the study’s co-author, speaking to AFP. An alert that these respond not only to the intake of contraceptives, but also against the eventual progression of other female cancers, such as ovarian and endometrial cancer.
Regarding the statistics of the study, it is also noted that it was based on an analysis of 10,000 women under the age of 50 who developed breast cancer between 1996 and 2017 in the UK, who were also taking contraceptives containing progestogens.
