Friday, November 09, 2007

Pills linked to cervical cancer risk

A Belgian study found that use of oral contraceptives increased the risk of cervical cancer - but the risk fell 10 years after the women stopped taking the pills.

Some experts feared that this study may mislead the public that there is a direct link between cervical cancer and oral contraceptives. They said that the women on the pill may have more sexual activities and therefore more likely to be infected with HPV, but cervical cancer is only caused by HPV. Many doctors said that women should not stop taking them.


Source: "Cervical cancer and hormonal contraceptives: collaborative reanalysis of individual data for 16 573 women with cervical cancer and 35 509 women without cervical cancer from 24 epidemiological studies - International Collaboration of Epidemiological Studies of Cervical Cancer" The Lancet, vol 370; 9599, pp 1609-1621

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