Hormonal Contraceptives & Brain Tumors In Women
Trending News: Is Your GF's Contraception Slowly Killing Her?
Why Is This Important?Because the birth control method many women are using could be making them sick.
Long Story ShortA team of researchers working in Denmark have linked the use of hormonal contraceptives to an increased risk of developing glioma, a rare type of brain tumor.
A recent study published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology has found that young women between the ages of 15-49 who take a hormonal contraceptive for at least five years are at an increased risk for developing a rare tumor, glioma of the brain.
Hormonal contraceptives include birth control pills, hormonal IUDs and hormonal vaginal rings, like the NuvaRing.
There has been evidence in the past that hormonal contraceptives, which contain female sex hormones can increase the risk of different types of cancers within certain age groups.
In order to test this hypothesis, the researchers, led by Dr. David Gaist of the Odense University Hospital and University of Southern Denmark drew data from Denmark's national administrative and health registries. They identified women in Denmark between 15 and 49 years of age who had a first-time diagnosis of glioma between 2000 and 2009.
What they found was "a statistically significant association between hormonal contraceptive use and glioma risk," according to Dr. Gaist. However, glioma is rare and Dr. Gaist stated that it was "important to keep this apparent risk in context."
"In a population of women in the reproductive age, including those who use hormonal contraceptives, you would anticipate seeing 5 in 100,000 people develop a glioma annually, according to the nationwide Danish Cancer Registry," said Dr. Gaist. "A risk-benefit evaluation would still favor the use of hormonal contraceptives in eligible users."
Although the risk is small in this case, there have been other health risks associated with hormonal contraceptives and it is important to consider that a woman may be unnecessarily compromising her health using hormonal contraceptives, when other solutions are available.
Own The ConversationAsk The Big Question: Is it unfair for women to have to bear the burden of dealing with contraception in a relationship?
Disrupt Your Feed: Here's another reason to try using a non-hormonal form of birth control.
Drop This Fact: A non-hormonal copper IUD is effective from 10 to even 20 years.