A new study finds women who have used the Pill are 26% less likely to develop ovarian cancer, and the benefit is even greater in women who took the Pill while in their mid-forties.
A new study suggests taking birth control pills can help lower the risk of ovarian cancer.
Ovarian cancer is known as the silent killer because symptoms often don’t appear until advanced stages when treatment is more difficult.
Researchers used artificial intelligence to track nearly 3,000 potential risk factors in more than 220,000 healthy women. During 12+ years of monitoring, about 14-hundred developed ovarian cancer.
But women who had ever taken oral contraceptives were 26% less likely to be diagnosed, according to the results. And those who took oral contraceptives after the age of 45 were 43% less likely.
Other risk factors linked to reduced odds of ovarian cancer included lower weight, shorter stature and giving birth to two or more children.
The authors say, “This study shows that certain risk factors for ovarian cancer are modifiable, suggesting that weight reduction and interventions to reduce the number of ovulations may provide potential for future prevention.”
The researchers also found blood biomarkers associated with ovarian cancer years before diagnoses. They say these findings may help them develop tests that identify women at risk at a very early stage.
Source: International Journal of Gynecological Cancer
Author Affiliations: University of South Australia
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